Mother, 3 children dead in N. Phila. fire

Fire investigators are trying to determine the cause of a blaze that raged through a two-story rowhouse in the Feltonville section this morning, killing a woman and her three children, officials said.

Only one smoke alarm without a working battery was found in the basement of the home at 4814 Palethorp St., Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said.

Neighbors identified the victims as Rasheedah Butts-Wilson, 33; her son Jamar, 14; and daughters Shanai, 8; and Minyan, 12. Neighbors said Butts-Wilson was a day care worker and block captain and that she and her family were about to move to a house she had purchased nearby.

The first of series of 911 calls reporting the blaze came in at 1:28 a.m. and the and the first Fire Department unit arrived at 1:32 a.m., Ayer said,

He said arriving firefighters found heavy smoke and fire on the first floor, including the porch, Ayers said.

Some neighbors said firefighters did not make a concerted effort to rescue the victims, but Ayers rejected that suggestion.

He said there was a brief communications breakdown when firefighters asked a man who was in front of the house if everyone was out.

The man said yes, but it soon became evident that he was referring to a neighboring house and other neighbors told firefighters they heard screaming from inside the burning building, Ayers said.

A firefighter tried to enter the house, but got into trouble and had to be pulled out, the commissioner said.

Neighbors also complained that firefighters could not open a hydrant close to the house and had to run a hose down the street.

Ayers said frozen hydrants are a problem in cold weather - the temperature was 25 degrees at time, according to the National Weather Service - and that firefighters use water from their truck tanks when they arrive to fight a fire.

He said the fire burned fiercely - fueled in part by wood paneling - and that the damage was so extensive, he and his firefighters could distinguish little in the charred ruins.

"Everything was consumed on the first floor," he said. "It was an intense firefight and that's evident from the amount of char and the speed of the fire."

The fire was declared under control at 2:07 a.m.

Fire marshals are trying to determine the cause of the blaze, which severely damaged two adjoining homes.

Firefighters found the bodies on the second floor. Ayers said. The woman was in a front bedroom, the boy was in the middle bedroom and the girls were in a rear bedroom.

"If you don't have an early warning, you're trapped," Ayers said, adding firefighters were, like the neighbors, "heartbroken" by the outcome.

Fernando Gallard, a spokesman for the Philadelphia School District,said the three children attended public schools – Barton Elementary, Feltonville Arts and Sciences Middle School, and Daniel Boone School.

This is a very sad and tragic loss to the school district family," said Gallard. "We are providing crisis counseling and services to students, staff and their families in the schools that these children attended."

The district will also provide services to the surviving family members, Gallard said.

Ayers said anyone needing a smoke detector should call the Fire Department hotline at 215-686-1176.