There were no working smoke detectors in a home west of Quebec City where two girls were killed in a fire on Thursday, police said.

Two girls were found dead in this burned-out home in Donnacona. (Catou Mackinnon/CBC)

Firefighters found the bodies the two girls in separate bedrooms on the second floor of the modest, vinyl-sided house in Donnacona. The building was gutted by the flames.

The children were identified as Marie-Daphnée Franche, 15, and her half-sister, Frederike Roberge, 9.

Local authorities said two adults and five children living in the house were at home when the fire broke out around 1 a.m. on Thursday.

The parents and three children managed to escape by jumping out a window. They are being treated in hospital for smoke inhalation and burns.

Neighbours told CBC News that after the fire broke out, the father was yelling at his children to jump out of the house. Neighbours also said the mother is pregnant.

Firefighters found two smoke detectors in the home, but neither was working properly, either because they didn't have batteries or were broken, local police said.

The fire destroyed the roof and blew out all the windows. The cause of the fire is unknown, police said.

Members of the Donnacona community have been working to find the family clothes, food and money, said André Marcoux, mayor of the town of 5,500 people.

Marcoux said it was devastating to hear that the smoke detectors in the home weren’t working.

“Take the time to [put in] … a battery — it is just a dollar,” Marcoux said, adding it could save lives.

With files from The Canadian Press