5-year-old might have started deadly Philly fire

PHILADELPHIA – Investigators are looking into the possibility that a 5year-old child who was playing with a lighter set a Christmas tree on fire, sparking a conflagration that killed 12 people in a Philadelphia rowhome, officials revealed Thursday.

The revelation 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 two sisters, several of their children and others early Wednesday.

Jane Roh, spokesperson for District Attorney Larry Krasner, confirmed the contents of the search warrant, which was first reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Fire officials provided few details at an afternoon news briefing, declining to say how many people escaped the blaze or speculate on a possible cause, adding the fire scene was complex. Officials also did not say where the fire began, calling it part of the investigation.

“I know that we will hopefully be able to provide a specific origin and cause to this fire and to provide some answers to the loved ones and, really, to the city,” said Matthew Varisco, who leads the Philadelphia branch of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. ATF specialists and other investigators took photos and combed through the charred, three-story brick duplex.

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 “suffered the tragedy,” according to Kelvin Jeremiah, the housing authority’s president and CEO, while six people were on the lease in the lower unit.

The fire department previously said none of the four smoke alarms in the building appeared to have been working. But housing authority officials said Thursday the building actually had 13 tamper-resistant, 10-year detectors in the units, all of which were operational during the last inspection in May.

MATT ROURKE/AP Officials pass flowers and other items left in memory of victims of Wednesday’s fatal fire in the Fairmount neighborhood of Philadelphia on Thursday. Officials say it’s the city’s deadliest single fire in at least a century.