Child with lighter studied as fire cause

PHILADELPHIA — Investigators are looking into the possibility that a 5-year-old child playing with a lighter set a Christmas tree on fire, sparking a conflagration that killed 12 people in a Philadelphia rowhome, officials revealed Thursday.

The information was included in a search warrant application as city and federal investigators sought to determine the cause of the city’s deadliest single blaze in more than a century, which took the lives of three sisters, several of their children and other people early Wednesday.

Jane Roh, spokesperson for District Attorney Larry Krasner, confirmed the contents of the search warrant, which was first reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Fire officials provided few details at an afternoon news briefing, declining to say how many people escaped the blaze or speculate on a possible cause, adding the fire scene was complex.

The building is owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority, the city’s public housing agency and the state’s biggest landlord.

Fourteen people were authorized to live in the four-bedroom upper apartment that “suffered the tragedy,” according to Kelvin Jeremiah, the housing authority’s president and CEO, while six people were on the lease in the lower unit.

While the fire department initially said none of the four smoke alarms in the building appeared to have been working, housing authority officials said Thursday the building had 13 tamper-resistant, 10-year detectors in the units, all of which were operational during the last inspection in May 2021.