Philadelphia Rowhouse Fire Kills 4 Children

Four children were killed in a fire in Philadelphia that ripped through several rowhouses early on Saturday, the authorities said.

The fire, in the city's southwest section, was reported around 2:45 a.m., the city's fire commissioner, Derrick Sawyer, said. When firefighters arrived, four homes were ablaze, and the fire eventually spread to eight homes.

The children who were killed, all under the age of 5, were in one home and appeared to be relatives, Commissioner Sawyer said. Five other members of their family were taken to a hospital with minor injuries. Officials did not release the names of the victims, but local news media reported that they were twin 4-year-old girls, a 4-year-old boy and a 1-month-old boy.

'This is a tragic, tragic day for the city of Philadelphia,' Commissioner Sawyer told reporters. 'We lost four children today. I want everybody to understand that fire is everyone's fight, not just the fire department. It's everyone's fight.'

At least 42 people were displaced by the fire, fire officials said. By 8:30 a.m., an American Red Cross shelter at a local high school had checked in about 28 people who were affected by the fire, Red Cross officials said.

Photos from the scene of the fire, in the 6500 block of Gesner Street, showed several two-story brick buildings with substantial damage. The frames of the homes were burned, the windows were broken, and debris littered the porches and yards.

The fire marshal's office was investigating the cause of the fire, Mr. Sawyer said. The authorities were examining whether it may have started on a porch of one of the rowhouses and spread to other porches. Investigators were also trying to determine whether residents might have tried to fight the fire themselves instead of calling 911, the fire commissioner said.

Fire officials will check whether the homes had fire alarms and plan to visit other homes in the neighborhoods to make sure that they are properly fitted with alarms, Commissioner Sawyer said.

Jeff Boone, 27, who lives on the block, told The Philadelphia Inquirer that he was playing games on a PlayStation when he stepped outside and saw a couch on fire on the porch of a house about five doors down. He ran back into his home to get a fire extinguisher, he said, but it did not work.

By that time, the flames had spread to other porches, he said.

'It looked like someone had a flamethrower and just shot it all across,' Mr. Boone told the newspaper.

Mr. Boone said he called 911 around 2:40 a.m. and then tried to rouse people. There was not much more he could do after that, he said.

'The flames were just so intense, I couldn't see anything from the smoke,' he said. 'I heard the little kids upstairs screaming.'

Local television footage showed neighbors, many wrapped in Red Cross blankets, standing on the street crying and holding each other.

One neighbor, Keisha Burgess, told the local NBC station that the fire had moved quickly down the block.

'I just woke up and grabbed my kids,' she said. 'The fire was just spreading, and it was just everywhere, house to house.'

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