Mother and Daughter Killed in Philadelphia House Fire

A West Philadelphia mother and her adult daughter died Thursday when a fire ripped through their Pennsgrove Street home.

Another resident of the three-floor house was resuscitated by emergency workers after being dragged out of her second floor unit. She was in critical condition Thursday evening at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, officials said.

The fire originated in the second-floor rear unit. The cause was still under investigation Thursday, said Philadelphia Fire Department spokesman Capt. Clifford Gilliam.

The house, which officials said has at least four separate units, did not have any working smoke detectors, Gilliam said.

The fire was reported by more than a dozen callers about 3:30 p.m., but by the time firefighters arrived on the scene four minutes later, the right side of the house was spewing flames. The woman who lives on the first floor of the house was able to escape on her own.

"She was out in the front just watching her entire house burn down," said Hanah Jones, who lives diagonally across from the house, on Holly Street. "It happened real quick."

When the rescuers arrived on the third-floor, the two women who lived there were already dead, Gilliam said. Their identities were not yet known Thursday evening, he said. Neighbors said the women had moved in about two years ago.

The Red Cross of Southeastern Pennsylvania was assisting three of the tenants who were displaced by the fire, providing food, clothing, and shelter.

Copyright 2012 - The Philadelphia Inquirer

McClatchy-Tribune News Service