Outside 629 Pearl St., a charred ornamental egg basket - the kind found as a kitchen table's centerpiece - rocked in the wind amid shards of glass scattered on the lawn.
Gloria Dunn, two of her sons, and her boyfriend were asleep when the second-floor dwelling caught fire around 2 a.m., according to firefighters. Two older sons of Dunn's were visiting their father for the weekend just two blocks away.
One of the boys with Dunn, a 3-year-old, escaped quickly with her. But the other, Kokayi Gordon, was trapped until Fire Chief Steven Serrano rescued him.
"The mother started yelling that her baby was still in there," Deputy Fire Chief Paul Price said. "The chief found the boy on the floor in the living room and brought him out."
Kokayi was taken to the burn unit at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children in Philadelphia with burns covering 50 percent of his body, said his father, Obanion Gordon. The boy was being sedated.
"We don't know if he is going to make it, but he's holding on as best as can be expected," Gordon said as he stood outside the Dunn home, where windows had been broken and screens had melted away. "It's in God's hands now."
Gordon said he and Dunn, his former wife, have three boys. He said that Dunn and the 3-year-old were fine and not hospitalized, but that Dunn was distraught.
"She's pretty out of it - very upset, hysterical," a tired-looking Gordon said after returning from the hospital. "She's with our son now."
Along with others, neighbor Jade Chrisdon said she had seen Kokayi taken from the building, his small form "smoking" as emergency medical crews placed him on a stretcher. Jamaal Abdulah, who lives next to the Dunn household, said he had offered his help and followed the family to the hospital.
Gordon, who said he lives on Ninth Street, and other neighbors said Dunn's boyfriend had gone back inside to try to find Kokayi and suffered smoke inhalation. The boyfriend, who was not identified by police or firefighters, was taken to Cooper University Hospital in Camden. He was still hospitalized yesterday afternoon, Gordon said.
The fire was accidental, said Price, the deputy chief. The cause, however, was unknown, and the city Fire Department and Camden County fire marshal were investigating, he said.
Rafael Perez, 16, lives next door with his grandmother. He said he heard Dunn and her boyfriend screaming around 2 a.m. and got up to close the window.
"I thought they were fighting," he said. "Then I saw the fire trucks and smelled the smoke."
Perez and neighbors in the three apartments that surround the burned-out dwelling were evacuated.
"There was a crowd outside," Perez said. "Neighbors were crying and scared. I was scared."
Police allowed residents to return to their homes about 45 minutes later, he said.
