BALTIMORE—Robert Spencer said he often saw children playing on the porch of the home across the street from his in their northeast Baltimore neighborhood. When he looked out the window early Thursday morning, the home was in flames.
Spencer ran toward the fire, but it was so big and hot he couldn’t help them. Six of the family’s nine children were killed, while their mother and three of her other children were able to escape but were injured, a fire official said.
“I heard the kids crying. My daughter heard them. They said: ‘Help, help,’ and you know, couldn’t save them, couldn’t save them,” Spencer said. “There was just too much fire there.”
All six bodies were recovered from the home Thursday, fire department spokesman Chief Roman Clark said.
Clark said the children killed were two boys, ages 9 months and 2 years; 3-year-old twin girls; and two girls, ages 10 and 11.
Investigators are searching for clues about what caused the fire.
Firefighters encountered heavy flames coming from all three floors of the home when they answered the call about 12:30 a.m. Thursday, and they attacked the blaze from outside, Clark said. The third floor collapsed and the second floor partially collapsed. The fire was so hot that it melted parts of a car that had been parked in front of the house.
