The fire started around 11:20 a.m. along the 3400 block of West Westmoreland.
It took firefighters only three minutes to arrive to the fire, but there was no time to save one young child, whose sister and mother are clinging to life, despite heroic efforts.
The fire raced through a third floor apartment where heavy fire was present. One of the first Philadelphia cops on the scene was Edward Spangler. Spangler raced a badly burned 4-year-old to the hospital in his patrol car after efforts to send the child with her critically injured mother failed. The four year old and her mother are in critical condition and the cause of this killer blaze has not yet been determined. The fire commissioner wants to remind residents that smoke detectors are free for the asking.