A 1-year-old girl died today of injuries suffered in a West Baltimore rowhouse fire. Four other injured girls were taken to area hospitals.
Members of two families were forced onto the street on a cold, drizzly morning by a fire that investigators believe began on a bed on the upper top floor or the two-story brick dwelling.
The first firefighters to arrive at the house in the 500 block of Brice St. doused the flames on the second floor and rescued the five girls, between 1 and 8 years old, who were found huddled in a corner of a rear bathroom. Their names were not available.
Three of the children were taken by ambulance to the University of Maryland Medical Center. The 1-year-old was pronounced dead in the emergency room.
A 4-year-old was listed in critical condition suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. An 8-year-old was in good condition with burns on 8 percent of her body.
The two other girls, ages 2 and 5, were taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center's burn unit and later transferred to the Johns Hopkins Children's Center. Each was listed in critical condition.
Fire officials said 12 people -- six adults and six children -- were in the house when the fire broke out.
One man suffered a injured ankle when he jumped from a second-floor bedroom window to an alley. He declined medical treatment, fire officials said. Five other adults and one child were not injured.
It was not immediately clear to investigators whether the children were related.
"I heard all the commotion," said one neighbor, Mellisa Williams, 15. "When I looked out my window, a bunch of smoke just hit my face."
Neighbors called the Fire Department when they saw a woman run from the house as thick smoke billowed from the roof.
"She was screaming that her children were inside," said Doreen Hawkins, 33.
Firefighters arrived at the house shortly before 7 a.m. and had the one-alarm blaze under control a few minutes later, said Battalion Chief Hector L. Torres, a department spokesman.
"The fire was quite easy to get extinguished," the chief said. "There was very heavy smoke when we got here."
Today's fatal fire was 10 blocks from a deadly blaze in February that claimed the lives of nine people, including two children.
That fire in the 2000 block of Hollins St. was caused when a lighted candle toppled.
In January, another West Baltimore fire claimed seven lives. So far this year, 42 people have died in fires, compared with 34 in all of 1993.
Details of the fire were sketchy, but Chief Torres said investigators believe the fire was accidentally ignited by a cigarette or a child playing with matches.
"It looks like it's accidental," the chief said. "It does not appear to be malicious. It doesn't look like arson." He said no smoke detectors were found in the house.
Richard Williams, 24, a neighbor, said he tried to get into the house to rescue the children after he heard the woman scream. But he was pushed back by fleeing adults who told him the smoke was too thick to get through.
"I said, 'Let's go get the kids,' " Mr. Williams said. "They said, 'You can't see, it's too much.' I was pushed right back down the stairs. All I was thinking about was trying to save the kids."
Officials would not immediately release the names of the victims -- who were being interviewed by fire investigators -- saying there was confusion about identities.
Two families apparently lived in the house, and Chief Torres said several friends also had been visiting.
A neighbor who took them in, Shirley White, 33, said they did not wish to speak to reporters.
"They are worried about their children right now," she said, adding that she routinely played with the injured youngsters and recently took them to the National Zoo in Washington.
"A tragedy, really," Ms. White said, standing in her doorway dressed in a bath robe. "They are wonderful children."
Ms. White said the residents are baffled by how the fire started. "They don't know," she said. "They are trying to find out."