Firefighters and family members, teachers and friends huddled together at sundown yesterday on the lawn of a Clairton townhouse where fire claimed the lives of three children.

For an hour, under a cold drizzle, the disparate group clutched candles and said prayers, many still reeling from the loss.

Firefighters are seeking grief counseling. Students are crafting a book of memories to cope with the loss of their classmates. And relatives of Rachel Finn, 9, Deausha Faulk, 6, and Michael Zigler, 2, are steeling themselves for the funerals and the grief that lies ahead.

"It's overwhelming. It's like that dream that you are trying to come out of," said Theresa Finn, a great-aunt to the girls. "When do you come out of it?"

Fire officials continue to investigate the cause of the Friday blaze, which started in the kitchen of the townhouse on Soltis Drive and swept through an upstairs bedroom where the children were sleeping. Investigators have said they died of smoke inhalation, likely before first responders arrived.

"It's a loss for us, too," said Clairton fire Chief John Lattanzi, who also attended the vigil. The children's deaths still weigh heavily on the minds of firefighters, he said, many of whom have young children. "We're trying to bring their minds to ease. They did the best job they could do."

The gloom persists at Clairton Elementary School, as well. Fifth-grader Naomi Dockery can feel it in the lunchroom, where she used to talk with Rachel Finn every day. Now when she goes to lunch, she said, she sees Rachel's best friend, crying.

"It's kind of weird, knowing she isn't going to be there at lunch," Naomi, 10, said. She lit a candle last night with schoolmates Corey and Courtney Hatch, 9-year-old twins. "We're all going to remember Rachel, there ain't no doubt about it."

They stood before a growing memorial of teddy bears, photographs and flowers. Posters bearing scribbled messages and prayers clashed against a ribbon of yellow caution tape.

"You will be missed and in our thoughts," one mourner wrote in pink marker.

"We will never forget you," wrote another. "You will always be in our hearts."

The Zigler family will have a wake for Michael today from 4 to 9 p.m. at Robert A. Waters Funeral Home in Clairton, and a funeral at 11 a.m. tomorrow at Mount Olive Baptist Church in Clairton.

The wake for Rachel Finn and Deausha Faulk will be from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow at Coston Funeral Home in East Liberty. A funeral will be held at the Good Hope Baptist Church next door at 11 a.m. Saturday.

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