5-Year-Old Who Died In Fire May Have Been Home Alone

5-Year-Old Who Died In Fire May Have Been Home Alone - Local News Story - WCAU | Philadelphia

Flames broke out just after 8 p.m. inside the home near 19th and Carpenter streets on Monday.

It took firefighters about 15 minutes to bring the blaze under control, but officials said the severely burned girl was later pronounced dead at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Fire investigators said the blaze started after someone left food cooking on the stove.

Philadelphia police told NBC10 they are also investigating if the young child was home alone.

“She was,” Maisha Watkins said. “They didn't pull nobody out but her. Her family was over there.”

Fire Department Lt. Michael Grant said a 5-year-old should not be isolated from the rest of the family.

“If someone is cooking, stay with the minor,” he said.

Fire Lt. Michael Grant also said this is the 26th fire fatality this year where no working smoke alarms were found on the gutted properties.

Firefighters handed alarms out to the community Tuesday afternoon.

Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers asked anyone who lives in Philadelphia and doesn't have one to call the Smoke Detector Hotline at 215-686-1176 to get theirs for free.

"Our whole organization is sick of this. We're upset about it. We want folks to catch on. We know that people are starting to catch on, but we need everybody to get it," Ayers said.