Due to incorrect information provided by family members to the Baltimore Fire Department and area hospitals, a story in Thursday's editions of The Sun about a rowhouse fire Wednesday erroneously reported names of victims and where they were treated. Kenoya Taylor, 19 months, was pronounced dead at the University of Maryland Medical Center; Takiara Taylor, 2, was in critical condition at the Johns Hopkins Children's Center; Tyrieka Hickson, 5, was in critical condition at the Children's Center; Tanieka Hickson, 2, was in critical condition at the UM Medical Center; and Shannell Ratchford, 8, was discharged from UM Medical Center Thursday.
The Sun regrets the errors.
A 19-month-old girl died yesterday of injuries she suffered in a West Baltimore rowhouse fire where she and four other children were trapped until firefighters rescued them.
Takiara Taylor was pronounced dead shortly after arriving by ambulance at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The cause of death is expected to be smoke inhalation, officials said.
The one-alarm blaze broke out minutes before 7 a.m., forcing members of two families onto the street on a cold, drizzly morning. Fire investigators believe the fire began in a bed on the upper top floor of the two-story brick dwelling.
Fire officials said 12 people -- six adults and six children -- were in the house when the fire broke out.
One man hurt his ankle when he jumped from a second-floor bedroom window to an alley.
Five other adults and one child were not injured.
The first firefighters to arrive at the house in the 500 block of Brice St. quickly doused the flames on the second floor and rescued the five girls, found huddled in a corner of a rear bathroom.
Tanieka Hickerson, 4, and Keyona Taylor, 2, were listed in critical condition at Johns Hopkin's Children's Center. They suffered burns and smoke inhalation.
Taken by ambulance to the University of Maryland Medical Center were Shannell Ratchford, 8, and Tyrieka Hickerson, 5.
Shannell was listed in good condition, and Tyrieka was listed in critical condition.
"I heard all the commotion," said a 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.
Yesterday's fatal fire was 10 blocks from the site of 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 by a candle. In January, another West Baltimore fire claimed seven lives. So far this year, 42 people have died in fires, compared with 34 in 1993.
Details of the fire were sketchy, but Battalion Chief Hector L. Torres, a department spokesman, said investigators believe the fire was accidentally started by a cigarette or a child playing with matches.
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."
A neighbor who cared for the victims immediately after the fire, Shirley White, 33, called the fire "a tragedy," adding, "They are wonderful children."