SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - The deaths of a grandmother and three of her grandchildren in a house fire near Jefferson on Tuesday continued a tragic trend: House fires with multiple fatalities almost always involve children.

An Associated Press review has turned up at least seven house fires in South Dakota each resulting in three or more fatalities, mostly children, within the past 10 years.

"Children by their nature are dependent on adults," said Al Christie, state fire marshal. "When traumatic things happen, they tend to freeze up and they may not remember the fire prevention drills they were taught."

Early Tuesday morning the fire near Jefferson, in extreme southeastern South Dakota, killed Martha Yates, 61; Emmaline Scott, 10; Raymond Scott, 4; and Mitchell Scott, 2 - four of the 10 people who reportedly occupied the 2,276 square-foot house.

Other multiple-fatality fires in South Dakota include:

n In 1998, a Howard family was killed after a man shot himself then set the house on fire, killing his wife and 16-year-old stepson.

n In 2004, a fire in Bear Creek killed four children ages 9, 8, 7 and 1. The same year in Canton, a fire killed three children ages 7, 5 and 4. And later that year a house fire in Sioux Falls killed two 8-year-olds and a 5-year-old.

n In 2005, two 4-year-olds, a 3-year-old and a 7-year-old died in their foster home in Waubay. The same month of that year, four more children - ages 17, 11, 6 and 4 - died in a house fire in Wakonda.

Most of the fires occurred in the early morning when children would most likely be sleeping.

Christie said carbon monoxide can put people in a deeper sleep and that a study has shown some people act incoherently when exposed to carbon monoxide.

Home fires kill more people each year than all of the nation's natural disasters combined, said Beth Trejo, spokeswoman for the Siouxland Chapter American Red Cross.

According to the Red Cross, children younger than 5 are twice as likely to die from home fires than the rest of the population.

"It's unfortunate that that is the case and we see it quite a bit here," said Trejo. "We responded to 70 fires this (fiscal) year," she said. "Typically we have 50 fires a year."

She said the Red Cross chapter assisted 87 children involved in home fires last year.

People who have suffered home fires typically don't feel safe and have financial and emotional issues, Trejo said. Some parents who have survived fires aren't emotionally available to their surviving children, she added.

"People get really frazzled and they don't have a sense of security," Trejo said.