BIG LAKE -- Two kids are dead and their father is in critical condition after a house fire in Big Lake early Friday morning.

Authorities were called to the 19,000 Block of Karen Lane just after 5:30 a.m. Four children and their father were inside during the blaze. Fire crews had to break down the door to get into the house to rescue them.

Sheriff Joel Brott says the family was taken to area hospitals, where 2-year-old Landon Parker and 1-year-old Spencer Parker later died.

The father, 36-year-old Anthony Parker, and his two other children, ages 9 and 7, remain hospitalized.

Brott says it's believed the father intentionally started the fire. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

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