Three young children were left home alone to fend for themselves when a fire started in a second story bedroom of their Brewerytown home Thursday night.
The children, 2, 4 and 9, were discovered alone inside their burning house on the 1700 block of N. Newkirk Street around 7 p.m. after firefighters and emergency responders broke a first floor window and made their way inside.
Police say the fire started when one of the younger children was playing with a lighter near a bed on the second floor.
The nine-year-old boy tried to extinguish the flames with water, but after a few failed attempts, ran to the back of the house and yelled for help, said officials.
An arrest warrant has been issued for the children’s mother, Lorraine Wilson, 31. Police say Wilson left the children home alone around 1 p.m. that day. She is charged with three counts of each of the following – Endangering the Welfare of a Child and Recklessly Endangering the Welfare of a Child.
All three kids were taken to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and treated for various injuries including lacerations and smoke inhalation.
The children were released into the custody of their grandmother.
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