RICHLAND -- A fast-moving house fire that killed eight people including four young boys and their mother may have been caused by a wood stove, authorities in central New York said Monday.

Police said Robin Dillenbeck, 26, and her four sons aged 10 years, 6 years, 20 months and 6 months all died in a fire that broke out around 3 a.m. Sunday at a two-story home. Also killed was Dillenbeck's 19-year-old boyfriend, Dale Lance Jr., the father of the two toddlers.

Killed along with the family of six were Lance's mother, Michelle Lance, 41, and her boyfriend, David Muir, 33.

The owner of the home and lone survivor was identified as Anthony DeRoose, 42. Authorities could not immediately explain DeRoose's relationship to the victims or why they were in his house in Richland, a community 37 miles north of Syracuse.

Neighbors were shocked by the tragedy in their rustic hamlet of 400 people and few were willing to talk about it.

"It's a small place. Everybody is either related or knows one another. Everyone here is in mourning," neighbor James Riordan said.

Richland sits on the Tug Hill Plateau, a haven for snowmobilers that gets more than 300 inches of snow each year. Many residents use wood stoves to heat their homes.

Oswego County Sheriff Reuel Todd said Monday investigators were looking at the possibility the fire was touched off by a wood stove, but it was too early to determine a cause.

"It was an old wood-frame building that had wood stoves in there for heat," Todd said.

Investigators do not suspect arson.

Todd said there were no smoke alarms in the home.

Witnesses and officials said the white-hot fire engulfed the house quickly, melting the tail lights of a car parked in the driveway and throwing heat that could be felt across the street in Riordan's home

"The flames were 30 feet up in the air and all white," Riordan said.

DeRoose repeatedly tried to rush back into the house as firefighters vainly fought the blaze Sunday and was eventually sat down in a police cruiser, Riordan said.