4 injured, 6 children missing after house fire in Baltimore

BALTIMORE – A woman and three children are injured and six more children in the family remain unaccounted for after an early morning house fire in northeast Baltimore, a fire official said Thursday.

Firefighters found heavy flames coming from all three floors of the home and they attacked the blaze from outside, fire department spokesman Chief Roman Clark said. Firefighters answered the call about 12:30 a.m. Thursday.

“The building was fully engulfed when they arrived on the scene,” he said by telephone.

A woman and three children escaped the home, Clark said. He said the nine children from one family range in age from 8 months to 11 years old.

The woman and two of the children are in critical condition and the third child is in serious condition, Clark said.

WJZ-TV showed two small children sitting up as they were wheeled away on a stretcher and a woman on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over her face. Images from the scene show firefighters dousing the charred shell of the first two stories of the home between two other large three story single-family homes.

The third floor collapsed and the second floor partially collapsed, Clark said. The blaze is contained, but hasn’t been brought under control.

The cause is under investigation, but investigators haven’t been able to enter the building. Crews were awaiting the arrival of heavy-duty equipment that would help them remove debris from the dwelling, he said.