DETROIT (AP) -- A kitchen fire spread smoke and flames through a home early Sunday, killing two adults and three children and injuring three others trapped behind the home's barred windows and doors, fire officials said.
Like other houses on the street, the home's windows were blocked by security bars, which may have prevented those inside from easily escaping the smoke and fire, chief arson investigator John Tucker said.
One woman and her 10-year-old daughter managed to get out by climbing to the attic, breaking a window and jumping, Tucker said. Firefighters found the other six inside one of the bedrooms.
There were no working smoke detectors in the home, Tucker said.
Family members identified the dead as Eddie Dudley Jr., 54, his 49-year-old girlfriend, Carol Riley, and her grandchildren Robert Baird, 9, Kayla Childress, 4, and Kenya Childress, 3.
Six-year-old Tavon Riley was hospitalized in critical condition Sunday, and his 10-year-old sister, Destiny, was in fair condition. The mother of all five children, 30-year-old Latisha Riley, was in serious condition.
Family members had gathered at Dudley and Carol Riley's home for a relative's wake Saturday night, Dudley's daughter Darlene Dudley said. Latisha Riley and her children had stayed overnight.
The blaze was reported about 4:40 a.m. A fire official said the fire appeared to have started with a stove that had been left on.
The home's barred front door needed a key to open from the inside. Dudley's daughter Annette Nolen said he had keys to the door and window bars.
``I just keep thinking, why didn't he get out?'' Nolen said.
Later that morning family and friends gathered outside the white frame house, where soot streaks could be seen on the outside walls.
``I don't know what to do,'' said a distraught Tonisha Dudley, 14, granddaughter of the house's owners. ``I just got to be strong for my mother.''
