MINNEAPOLIS — An oven used for heating may have caused a house fire in north Minneapolis that killed three young children, fire officials said Sunday.

Firefighters responded to the fire in the Jordan neighborhood just before midnight Saturday. They found the bodies of two of the children in a first-story bedroom in the rear of the two-story house, Minneapolis Fire Chief John Fruetel said. A third child, found on the second floor, died at a hospital.

All three were under age 7, Fruetel said. Their identities have not been released.

While the fire is under investigation, Fruetel said the oven door was open and that the fire started at or near the stove, the Star Tribune reported.

“Fire doesn’t discriminate,” Fruetel said. “Ovens and stoves are not heating appliances. … Do not use your ovens or stovetops for heating.”