By Chris Emery
The Baltimore Sun
BALTIMORE — Steven Davis saw the smoke billowing from a house in his Northwest Baltimore neighborhood.
He heard the cries for help coming from the children inside, but when he raced over to help them, he found the front and side doors locked.
“I heard the older boy yelling, ‘Help me, help me,’” Davis said.
Later, he watched as firefighters carried a boy’s body from the house and removed the boy’s younger brother and sister, who later died in the hospital.
“It was terrible,” said Davis, who said he called 911 on Friday afternoon after seeing smoke coming from the roof of the house in the 3500 block of Springdale Ave.
Baltimore fire officials yesterday identified the victims of that blaze as Elijah Fields, 13, his 8-year-old brother, Sadik Fields, and his 5-year-old sister, Siedah Fields.
Chief Kevin Cartwright, a Fire Department spokesman, said yesterday that investigators were trying to determine the cause of the fire.
“There was a smoke detector found inside the home,” Cartwright said. “Whether or not it was operational will be determined as part of the investigation.”
The call for the fire came in about 4:30 p.m. Friday, according to Cartwright. It set off a single alarm that brought five fire engines and two fire trucks to the house.
Firefighters extinguished the blaze in about 30 minutes.
They found one child on the first floor of the house and the other two children in cardiac arrest on the second floor.
Elijah was pronounced dead at the scene, Cartwright said. Sadik and Siedah were taken to Sinai Hospital, where they died about 10 p.m.
“These children died due to the injuries suffered in the fire, but the official cause of the death will come from the state medical examiner,” Cartwright said.
No names were available for the children’s parents, according to fire officials. City real estate records showed the house has been owned by Vernon Fields since at least 2003.
Davis said a man he believes was the children’s father arrived while firefighters were battling the blaze.
“When they brought his son out, he just broke down right there on the sidewalk,” Davis said. “He just kept saying, ‘Why? Why? Why?’” He said the man left in a car after the victims had been taken away.
Cartwright said he received no reports that anyone else was in the house.
Standing on the sidewalk in front of the house yesterday morning, Steven Davis wondered why the children were home alone.
“That shouldn’t have happened,” he said, shaking his head.
Maryland law prohibits leaving a child under the age of 8 unattended in a building or car, unless supervised by a reliable person at least 13 years old, the age of Elijah Fields.
Firefighters went door to door in the neighborhood yesterday morning handing out fire safety pamphlets titled “An Unfortunate Tragedy Has Occurred in Your Neighborhood. Learn to Prevent It!”
Several stuffed animals lay on the brick steps leading up to the front door of the burned house, apparently placed there by well-wishers.
Clear plastic covered the broken windows, and a charred couch and a TV set with its glass screen half melted lay in a pile of debris in the front yard.
Neighbors said that the children and their parents had lived in the house for about three years, but that they did not know the parents’ names.
“They seemed like nice people,” said Betty Murrell, who lives directly across the street. “But they stayed to themselves.”
Carl Thornton, who lives next door, said he had talked with the father a few times, but only briefly.
He said the family had converted the house from a duplex to a single-family home, put new siding on the exterior and built a deck in the backyard.
“Looked like he was doing a really good job at refurbishing,” Thornton said. “They put flowers on the deck, and they’d be out there having a good time.”
Another neighbor, Ashley Burgess, 15, said her 12-year-old brother, Nathaniel White, often played tag and rode Big Wheels with Sadik and Siedah.
“Sadik would ring the bell, and they would go outside and play,” she said.
She said Siedah tagged along with her older brother Sadik wherever he went.
“They [were] back and forth every day almost,” she said. “She always followed her brother.”