Philadelphia officials are revealing the cause of the fire that killed 12 people on Jan. 5. They say the fire started in a Christmas tree that was ignited by a lighter.
The fire broke out on the second floor of a three-story rowhouse around 6:30 a.m. last Wednesday. The only survivor from that floor was a 5-year-old child. A search warrant application states that investigators are looking into whether the child may have been playing with a lighter near the Christmas tree.
The fire commissioner says the investigation didn’t find anything that proves or disproves this theory. He notes that this is because the only description of how the fire may have started comes from a 5-year-old child.
The 12 victims of the fire included four adults and eight children. There were 24 people living in the building’s two units.
