Aunt says surviving 5-year-old doesn't understand what's going on after deadly Philadelphia blaze; smoke detectors weren't working in public housing building
Jacuita Purifoy on Wednesday lost 10 family members when a fire tore through a converted three-story house in Philadelphia, killing 12 people in one of the US’ deadliest residential infernos in the past few years.
“My sisters and my nephews and my nieces are gone. They are never coming back again,” the 37-year-old told reporters outside a nearby elementary school where families of victims were consoling each other.
The Philadelphia City Government said that 12 people, including eight children, were killed in the blaze, revising an earlier toll of 13 victims.
Purifoy lost seven younger relatives, the youngest of whom was just one
Many across Philadelphia were struggling to process the vast scope of the tragedy after Wednesday's rowhouse fire that left 12 people dead, including 8 children.
Federal fire investigators Thursday vowed to spare no expense in the investigation into a rowhome fire that killed 12 people, including eight children, in.