Mother, Teen Son Dead After Flames Tear Through Point Breeze Home
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Authorities are trying to determine what sparked a deadly fire in Philadelphia's Point Breeze neighborhood. A mother and her teenage son were killed, and the woman's daughter is hospitalized.
Cellphone video shows as flames tear through the Point Breeze home. That fire left a 39-year-old mother and her 14-year-old son dead.
The fire broke out just after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday on the 2200 block of Pierce Street in the Point Breeze section.
Firefighters arrived to find thick smoke and flames.
Officials tell Eyewitness News the fire started on the first floor and firefighters were able to control those flames in just about 30 minutes. Crews tried to rescue three people inside the home but for two of them, it was too late.
Two of them were found on the first floor and the other person upstairs.
All three were taken to the hospital.
Police say the mother and son died at Jefferson Hospital. The woman's 12-year-old girl was taken to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia in stable condition.
The news has left neighbors shocked and heartbroken.
A neighbor who is friends with this mother says she is praying for the entire family.
"I got myself and my children together because I didn't know where the fire was occurring and then when I actually saw where it was happening," neighbor Asha Downing said. "I had just spoken to her a few hours before it happened, just a couple hours before it happened and I was just hoping and praying for the best. They're really genuinely a nice family. They're really, really -- especially her and her son, and the husband-- everybody is just super sweet in that house."
She recalled how the mother would give out food to kids in the neighborhood during the summer months, calling her a kind and generous person.
"My children have been to her house and they've played together. I don't know how I'm going to tell them what's going on," Downing said.
Another neighbor says the 14-year-old boy had just started ninth-grade and was a good student.
Police have not yet released the identities of the mother and son.
No other homes here were damaged as a result of this fire.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
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