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What we know about the fire in Philadelphia's Fairmount section that killed 8 children, 4 adults
Residents in the Fairmount neighborhood were woken up by screams and flames.
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PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- We are learning more about the devastating fire in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia that erupted Wednesday morning that left 12 people - including eight children - dead.
However, there are still many unanswered questions.
The fire broke out just before 6:40 a.m. in a Philadelphia Public Housing Authority property in the 800 block of N. 23rd Street.
The house was split into two apartments, Unit A and Unit B. Sources say most, if not all, of the fatalities occurred in Unit B, which was comprised of the second and third floors.
Here's what we know so far:
CAUSE OF THE FIRE
Sources tell Action News that investigators are looking into the possibility the blaze might have been sparked after a child started a Christmas tree fire.
However, the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said Thursday morning it is bringing in the ATF's National Response team "given the magnitude and scope of the fire."
The team specializes in determining the origin and causes of fires.
The National Response Team has been part of multiple high-profile cases, including the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon and the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
SMOKE DETECTORS
Firefighters say the home had no working smoke detectors.
The Philadelphia Housing Authority said the smoke detectors were working during an inspection in the spring of 2021.
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Action News has learned there were seven smoke detectors and three carbon monoxide detectors in one of the apartments, and six smoke detectors with three carbon monoxide detectors in the other as of the last inspection in the spring of 2021.
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It was not known why those smoke detectors didn't work.
The duplex is a Philadelphia Housing Authority property. In a statement, PHA President and CEO Kelvin A. Jeremiah confirmed the property was last inspected in the spring, and all smoke detectors were "operating properly at that time."
NUMBER OF OCCUPANTS
Eight people lived in Unit A, which was on the first floor of the building, and another 18 people lived in Unit B, which was comprised of the second and third floors of the home.
However, the Philadelphia Housing Authority said they were only aware of 14 residents in Unit B when they did their last occupancy recertification in October.
Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy noted that it was a large number of people to be occupying a duplex, but a spokesperson for Philadelphia's Department of Licenses and Inspections said the city does not limit the number of family members who can stay in a single unit.
PHA spokesperson Kirk Dorn says the family moved into Unit B roughly a decade ago, and at the time six people occupied it. Over the years the family expanded with young children.
Dorn says the family never requested to be moved to a larger unit. He says due to the pandemic and demand for low-income housing, PHA could not move the family to a five-bedroom home, but it's unclear why the family wasn't split up into two smaller homes.
THE VICTIMS
Family members identified some of the victims who lost their lives in this horrific fire.
Qaadira and Jacuita Purifoy say they lost their three sisters and their eight children. They identified one of them as 32-year-old Virginia Thomas.
A second sister, identified as Rosalee McDonald, also perished in the blaze, along with her six children: three boys and three girls.