The firefighters looked shocked, and remember this was Omagh which has experienced the worst of the Troubles. Eoin Doyle, a fire crew leader, was at the scene from early morning.
"These are all family men who left their own families this morning to fight this fire. The loss of life here is just terrible and they can feel it," said Mr Doyle.
What seemed worst of all was that the bodies of the McElhill family were still inside. Just a couple of hours earlier the blaze erupted, before 5am. Firefighters battled the fire but were driven back by the flames.
The roof caved in. Try valiantly as they might the firefighters could not save the family. Officers worked carefully, tentatively inside the charred hulk of the house, until it was too dangerous to remain. In the upstairs room we could see the twisted metal of a bunk bed.
It is thought all five children were at home - Sean and Bellina, aged just 7 and 4, who went to St Conor's primary school; Clodagh, not yet two; 10-month-old James, who was baptised in the local Catholic church this spring; and Caroline (13).
During the bitter, cold morning and into the afternoon a hoist lifted fire officers and forensic people over the building to take photographs and peer inside. They could see the bodies but at that stage could only account for five of them.
It was too dangerous to search inside and anyway the scene had to be preserved as far as possible so that the police could establish how the fire started - by accident or through arson. They would sift through the house later to recover all the bodies, including the parents, Arthur and Lorraine.
Asked what might have caused the fire, Det Chief Supt Norman Baxter said, "what we are doing here is carrying out a thorough investigation to establish the origins of how it started. There is nothing at this stage to indicate there was a definite crime." Which, translated, meant the PSNI was keeping its options open as to how the fire started.
It was all so infinitely sad. Local doctor and Independent Assembly member Kieran Deeny still has bad memories from dealing with the dead and injured of the 1998 Omagh bomb. "Times like this you just want to hug your children, don't you," he said. "In my 27 years as a doctor this is the worst such tragedy I've seen."
"Trouble doesn't come to Omagh in small packages, does it? But the community is close-knit, it will rally round." People came and went, leaving flowers for the police to place close to the scene - a large teddy bear as well to express sadness and solidarity. But with whom? Perhaps they would provide some comfort for the extended family.
And little notes too. "God bless. You are all together in Heaven," one person wrote. "Dear friends, you will be sadly missed," said another.
Local Independent councillor Paddy McGowan, a firefighter for 25 years, said it was the worst fire he had ever witnessed. He was at the scene very early. Some local people said that a little earlier they saw people "moving on the first floor" as the fire raged.
"When I arrived the firemen were on the roof with hoses hosing down the house. There were clusters of neighbours in shock standing in little bunches and crying," he said. "There was an air of complete numbness. The tragedy was unfolding that the family had been lost."
Eithne Sharkey is a neighbour who was wakened by the noise of the fire engines. "I heard the commotion and saw smoke and the flames. You don't expect to be waking up so early to a sight like that," she said.
Eithne supervises school dinners at St Conor's. She didn't know the parents very well, but often saw Lorraine pushing her double buggy with Clodagh and James. She also knew young Bellina from school, but Sean better. "He was a lovely, very pleasant child, always smiling, always happy," she recalled.
"We are all just numb here, in total shock, thinking that a family could all be wiped out like that. I just feel sick, it is terrible," said Eithne.
That was the general feeling in Omagh, which knows about suffering. As local parish priest, Msgr Donnelly, said, "there is just a terrible feeling of shock and grief. I really don't have the words to describe what people are feeling inside. It is complete and utter devastation."
