As the investigation continues, loved ones and residents gathered at a vigil outside of the Bache-Martin Elementary School Thursday night to remember the 12 people killed in a fast-moving house fire. jpayoute reports
, and there is still an active scene in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood. Chesley Lightsey, supervisor for homicide and fatal shooting at the DA’s Office, told Eyewitness News that they believe a child may have been playing with a lighter near a Christmas tree in one of the units and the tree caught fire. These details were revealed in an application for a search warrant to go inside the unit where the fire began.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives called on its national response team to join the investigation. The ATF’s national response team has state-of-the-art equipment operated by personnel that specializes in fire origin. PHA President and CEO Kelvin Jeremiah says the fire alarms and carbon monoxide detectors were fully operational after last year’s April and May inspections.
On the lease were 20 people, six for the first floor and 14 for the upper unit. There were 26 people inside at the time the blaze erupted. CBS3 has learned the victims include four women, five girls and three boys between the ages of two and 34.