Fire kills boy, 12, injures twin in S.W. Phila.

The injured boy, who may have saved the lives of his family by alerting them to the blaze, was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, fire officials said.

Neighbor George Mitchell, a Philadelphia police officer, said that shortly after 3 a.m. he heard a voice calling loudly and urgently, "like beeping a horn ... shouting out."

He looked out the window to see flames leaping 15 feet in the air from the second floor of the home, which is in the middle of the row.

Around the same time, neighbor Lamont Washington said he heard banging on his door. It was the twins' 17-year-old sister, who apparently was aware that Washington is a Fire Department medic. "My house, my house," he recalled her saying.

Mitchell and Washington rushed to the scene, where they found the twins' mother and stepfather on the first floor, unwilling to leave. "We grabbed them and pulled them out," Mitchell said.

Washington said he and Mitchell then tried to get inside, but were repelled by the intense flames.

He said the injured twin had alerted the sister to the fire, who, in turn, roused the adults. The boy managed to get outside, but he had suffered facial burns, Washington said.

"They're good kids, real good kids," Washington said of the twins.

Fire Department spokesman Chief Daniel Williams said the the first company responded at 3:13 a.m., and the fire was out in under 20 minutes. The damage evidently was confined to the second floor, where the boy's body was found in a rear bedroom.

Williams said two of the smoke detectors weren't functioning, and another in the basement was merely chirping because it had a low battery.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Philadelphia residents in need of a smoke detector can obtain one for free by calling 215-686-1176.