Baltimore-- A fire quickly swept through a rowhouse where a family of 12 lived, killing a boy and his mother and injuring seven others. The mother died after trying to rescue the child.
Five children were injured in the blaze Saturday morning in Baltimore. A 10-year-old girl was reported in critical condition, suffering from burns and smoke inhalation, Baltimore fire spokesman Kevin Cartwright said.
Cartwright said others in the house suffered from smoke inhalation, and a 9-year-old broke an ankle after jumping from the roof of a front porch to escape. He did not know their conditions.
``Everyone escaped out of home except one child on the second floor,'' he said. ``The mother went back into home to rescue her child, not considering the smoke and the fire, and she was overcome and succumbed to that.''
Cartwright said a family of 12 lived in the house, but didn't know the relationships between the injured people, their names or the ages of those who died. He said Saturday night that officials were still investigating the cause of the fire.
Cartwright said the family probably was asleep when the fire began about 8:20 a.m. in the kitchen of the two-story rowhouse, which did not have smoke detectors.
