Family Grieving While Picking Up Pieces After Tragic Fairmount Fire Took 12 Lives, Including Children
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The grieving family of those killed in a tragic fire in Philadelphia's Fairmount neighborhood are trying to pick up the pieces. People from all across the city are coming together to remember the victims killed.
A cousin of some of the victims says she woke up Thursday feeling stunned and at a loss of words. But the victims are being remembered with a growing makeshift memorial at 23rd and Parrish Streets in Fairmount.
Some people who are stopping by knew the victims, others are complete strangers like Jolie Marinucci.
"I blessed myself and put down some rosary beads for those that passed away and those that are suffering losses and of course, the first responders," Marinucci said. "They were part of the community, the family. And to see the faces of those responders, it really touched my heart because they really did care. Must have been horrible to see that. I'm just hoping that they get to the bottom of what was happening with PHA and those people living in the house."
She says it brought back memories of a fire that happened at 25th and Parrish Streets in 1967. She also knew that family.
"That was the first thing that came to my mind," Marinucci said. "I think nine of their family members passed. To happen again with 13 people, it's too much."
Eyewitness News talked to the victims' family Thursday morning. They say they're still trying to process this horrible tragedy that took the lives of 12 people, including eight children.
Among those killed were four women, five girls and three boys. The victims were mothers, sisters, nieces and nephews.
Family members identified one of the victims as 32-year-old Virginia Thomas and 34-year-old Rose McDonald.
Investigators with the DA's Office tell 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.
For now, the investigation is being led by the Fire Marshal's Office but includes support from multiple local and federal agencies.
A solemn procession of police vans carried the victims' bodies to the medical examiner's office on Wednesday night.
Video taken inside a preschool one of the victims, a young girl named Natasha, attended in Fairmount from a few years ago shows the then-five-year-old dancing.
"She's so sweet, you can probably see her looking at her mom in the video," Suzy Zelley said.
Zelley says her son went to preschool with Natasha and calls her a bright young girl who was taken too soon.
"She was a good girl and her mom did a really good job raising her," Zelley said.
Some people who lived on the first floor were able to escape and are getting help from the Red Cross.
The family will hold a candlelight vigil Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Bache-Martin School.
