BALTIMORE (AP) — An intense fire torched an apartment building early Saturday, killing a woman, her niece and her son, who was turning 10 that day, fire officials said.
The blaze, reported at about 3 a.m., burned three apartments on top of one another in a three-story building in northwest Baltimore, said Fire Department spokesman Chief Kevin Cartwright. Eleven other families scrambled to safety on their own.
Firefighters found the victims in a basement apartment, Cartwright said. The victims were identified as Raheem Muhammad, 28; her son, Royelle Riley, whose birthday was Saturday; and the woman's niece, Markia Summerfield, 7.
Investigators were seeking the fire's cause. It comes less than two months after a row house fire in the city killed eight people, five of them children.