Fire Chief William Rehr III says three girls, all about age 12 or under, died in the blaze early Thursday morning. He says the fire appears to have started in the apartment's second-floor kitchen at the base of the stairs.
The girls were trapped upstairs by the flames.
Neighbors identified the girls as 12-year-old Thalia, 10-year-old Jocey and seven-year-old Brianna.
It's not known if the fire had any working smoke detectors. Neighbors did not report hearing any alarms, but did hear screams.
"A boy that went in the house he heard the girls yelling and stuff like that. He could not kick the door in because the smoke was getting to him," said neighbor Jesus Santini.
Santini went on to say the adults tried to get back in the house through a rear window.
Rehr says the girls' mother and her boyfriend are hospitalized in critical condition after being badly burned.
They have been identified as 39-year-old Brenda Angel and 27-year-old Lucien White.
Neighbors say Angel had to be rescued from the roof while White had to be restrained from running back into the burning structure.
Investigators believe White left chicken cooking on the stove, leading to the fire.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
