Philadelphia Fire That Killed Boy Blamed on Gas Stove

The West Philadelphia apartment fire that killed a 4-year-old boy last week began after the child's mother left a gas stove on, fire officials said Monday.

The Philadelphia Fire Department said Tymear Rose, 4, and his brother Tyheed, 3, were playing in the kitchen of their apartment on the sixth floor of the West Park Apartments on Busti Street.

The boys' mother, Tasha Rose, 26, had left on two burners of the gas stove, Deputy Chief Derrick Sawyer said. The boys were playing with a cloth or towel that caught fire, Sawyer said.

Sawyer said Rose was at the building's trash incinerator at the time and added that she was not out of the apartment long.

As the fire spread, the boys hid. Tasha Rose and a male neighbor got Tyheed out of the apartment but could not find Tymear. Firefighters later found him hiding under a bed. He died Tuesday afternoon at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Rose, the neighbor, and a firefighter were taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania after sustaining injuries rushing into the fire.

Rose has since been released, but hospital officials said they could not confirm when.

Tyheed also was taken to Children's, where he was in stable condition after the fire.

Sawyer said he did not believe police planned to press charges.

Twenty people have died in fires in Philadelphia this year, down from 28 at this time last year, Sawyer said.

Copyright 2012 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

McClatchy-Tribune News Service