In a chaotic few minutes, six lives were gone.
Five never got out, one died at a hospital. Seven others were badly hurt - some clinging to life last night - in one of the deadliest fires in Baltimore's history.
The tragedy unfolded yesterday morning on the city's east side, near Green Mount Cemetery, in a rented rowhouse packed with an extended family that the owner had tried to evict a month ago.
There were a mother and a child who used a wheelchair, relatives and cousins, maybe friends. Several people jumped from second-floor windows to escape the fire on Cecil Avenue. Fire officials said the bodies were burned beyond recognition and identifying them would be difficult.
"The scene inside that house is something no one should have to see," Fire Chief William J. Goodwin Jr. said. "And no one should have to die that way."
Last night, hundreds of mourners - friends, neighbors, strangers - packed the Ark Church on North Avenue to grieve for the lost. The Rev. James L. Carter read from the Bible, "The thing I fear the most has come upon us."
He told those gathered: "One side of me is angry, upset and feeling forsaken. Why would God allow this to happen?"
When asked how she is coping, Caroll Howell, the mother of Deneen Thomas, who lived in the house and was burned over half her body, said, "We are not. We are trying."
The first 911 call came in at 7:21 a.m. and was followed in rapid succession by nine more. Firefighters arrived at 1903 Cecil Ave. three minutes later and quickly struck a second alarm, which brought a total of 60 firefighters to the scene.
While some firefighters rushed through the front door with hoses, others hauled ladders through a narrow alley and climbed to a second-floor window to reach the trapped occupants. Paramedics treated several who had jumped to escape the intense heat and thick smoke.
Neighbors streamed from their homes to watch the rescue efforts, crowding a block lined with empty and boarded rowhouses in the neighborhood known as East Baltimore-Midway, a community that has long struggled with drugs and violence.
The fire was quickly brought under control. Investigators had not determined a cause yesterday, but police said no accelerants were found in the debris. Fire officials said a preliminary investigation indicates the fire began on the first floor of the two-story house and ripped through the home within minutes, spreading to an adjacent vacant rowhouse and another where a woman lives with her grandson.
The house that burned appeared to lack working smoke detectors, Goodwin said.
Chief Kevin P. Cartwright, a fire department spokesman, said that officials were trying to identify the dead yesterday and that dental records would most likely have to be used.
A 5-year-old boy who was rushed to Johns Hopkins Hospital died there. The rest of the dead were found inside the charred wreckage of the home - four in a second-floor bedroom in the front of the house, another on the ground floor near the stairwell.
Howell identified four of the dead as William Hyman and Tayshawn Thomas, 16, who used a wheelchair; Davontae Witherspoon, 13; and Nijuan Thomas Jr., 3 and her great-grandson. The pastor of Ark Church read the names of the dead and injured at last night's vigil and provided The Sun with his hand-written list.
The ages the pastor listed did not match a list of surviving victims the fire department provided.
Fire officials gave this account of the injured, though conditions and injuries were not available for each victim:
Being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital were a 3-year-old girl suffering from burns and a 27-year-old man in critical condition.
Taken to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center was a 4-year-old girl who fire officials said jumped from the house, a 20-year-old woman with second-degree burns on her arms, a 27-year-old woman listed in critical condition suffering from smoke inhalation and a 30-year-old man who suffered smoke inhalation.
Also being treated at Bayview was Thomas, 43, who family members described as the matriarch of the household. Fire officials said she was in critical condition, suffering from second- and third-degree burns to 60 percent of her body. Witnesses described seeing Thomas, also known as "Miss Nina," jump from a second-floor window in the front of the house to escape the fire.
Witnesses described a horrifying scene.
"I just heard somebody screaming and I looked up and I seen people jump out the window," said Mott Moore, 71, who said he saw three people jump from the rear of the home. "The fire was so fast. It didn't take long. It didn't take long before it was really blasting out. It didn't take no time for it to really go up."
Moore ran to the front of the burning structure and saw a woman on the ground - who witnesses said had jumped out a window.
"She was screaming, 'Help me! Help me! Help me!'" Moore said, adding that paramedics were working to save a man lying on a stretcher.
Antonio Johnson, 46, who said he had been in the house just before the fire began, said he saw smoke and tried to rescue those trapped.
"We couldn't get in because the flames were too big. ... too much smoke," Johnson said, choking back tears. "It happened so fast. I had just left out of there and nothing was wrong."
The six deaths brought the total number of people killed this year in city fires to 15. It was the deadliest blaze since the 2002 fire that killed Angela and Carnell Dawson and their five children - a blaze that was set in retaliation for the mother's persistent efforts to stop drug dealing in her neighborhood.
Representatives of the city housing department's office of community services and the American Red Cross helped neighbors and family members with counseling, funeral arrangements and housing assistance.
The Red Cross dispatched four mental health counselors to talk to family members and residents at the nearby Cecil-Kirk Recreation Center, and it was providing overnight housing assistance to two next-door neighbors whose house was damaged.
Upon receiving word of the fire and deaths, Mayor Sheila Dixon, who was in Las Vegas, issued a statement saying:
"I can only imagine the heartbreak and pain that those who lost a loved one in the fire must feel, and I offer my sincere condolences to all those dealing with this terrible event. ...
"I am grateful for the professionalism and courage shown by our firefighters today. Fires like this are terrible reminders of the debt we all owe these brave men and women.
"The families of those who died this morning are in my thoughts and prayers today, as I know they are in the thoughts of all Baltimore citizens."
Officials were having difficulty determining who lived in the house and how they were related. The owner said Deneen Thomas took in too many people, overwhelming the two-story house, and would not leave despite efforts to evict the occupants.
Thomas' family said the woman known as Miss Nina simply had too big a heart to turn people away. "Nina was like a mother to everybody," said her cousin, Keith Fleming, 37. "She would let anyone into her home. That's just the way she was. That's probably why there were so many people living in that house. People were always over there no matter what. She always looked after everyone."
Fleming came to last night's vigil at Ark Church with a simple request for a stunned city: "Just pray for us."
nicole.fuller@baltsun.com.
Chris Emery, Julie Bykowicz, Eric Siegel, Brent Jones, Doug Donovan, Kelly Brewington and Jamie Stiehm contributed to this article.