Two brothers have died from injuries they suffered in an early-morning fire in southeast Washington.
Fire investigators have yet to find the cause of the blaze that gutted the apartment the boys shared with their mother and infant sister.
The fire also left the tenants of five other units temporarily homeless.
Police said 3-year-old Damone and 6-year-old Day'Ton'e Barnes were pronounced dead at Children's Hospital National Medical Center.
D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services spokesman Alan Etter said both boys suffered burns and smoke inhalation.
Etter said firefighters were called around 2:25 a.m. to respond to the blaze in the 3300 block of 6th Street.
Etter said when firefighters arrived there was heavy fire showing from the third-floor of the three-story-garden-style apartment.
Etter said when firefighters entered the building they came across the two boys, ages 3 and 6.
"One firefighter carried one little boy down through the interior stairway and the other boy was taken out of a window and taken down to the ground by ladder," Etter said.
The other people inside the apartment, the boys' mother, their 2-year-old sister and a male friend managed to escape, Etter said.
A 61-year-old woman was taken to an area hospital. Etter said he believes she was a neighbor who tried to help. He did not elaborate on her injuries.
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