BLAIN, Pa. — Seven children are dead after police say a central Pennsylvania farmhouse caught fire while their mother was in a barn milking cows and their father was taking a nap in a milk delivery truck.

Trooper Tom Pinkerton says a 3-year-old girl escaped from the blaze to alert her mother, who police believe tried to get into the home before running to a neighbor’s home for help.

Pinkerton says the woman then ran to get her husband, who had dozed off in a milk truck about a mile from the house in Blain, about 20 miles outside Harrisburg.

Officials say the children who died ranged in age from 7 months to 11 years old.

The Perry County coroner’s office says they died of smoke inhalation.

The cause is under investigation.