An aide to Maryland Congressman Elijah Cummings lost six of her nine children early Thursday in a horrific house fire, officials said, and two of her surviving kids are fighting for their lives.
Katie Malone’s 8-year-old daughter was credited with saving her 4- and 5-year-old brothers by carrying them out of the flame-filled home around midnight.
The 8-year-old, Erin, was later released from Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, but her mother and surviving siblings, Jack and Jane, were in critical condition.
Malone has worked with Rep. Elijah Cummings for more than 11 years, overseeing various issues including immigration, postal services and the military.
“It’s a very difficult time for our office,” Cummings said at a news conference Thursday.
Cummings had a lengthy discussion with Malone’s husband, William, who assured him that his wife was “going to be OK.”
“My staff is a family and this unimaginable tragedy is shocking and heartbreaking to us all. I again ask for your prayers,” Cummings, a Democrat, said in a statement.
The inferno ripped through the family’s three-story home, causing the top two floors to collapse.
The Baltimore Fire Department pulled the first little body from the smoldering wreckage around 10:30 a.m. — nearly 10 hours after the fire started.
They worked throughout the day, wading through the charred building looking for any signs of life.
But by Thursday afternoon, they made the grim discovery of five other children.
The six deceased kids were a 9-month-old boy, a 2-year-old boy, 3-year-old twin girls, a 10-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl, the fire department said.
The top floors had already collapsed and the flames had melted part of a parked car when firefighters arrived, Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh said.
The fire also caused some damage to neighboring homes.
A neighbor, Robert Spencer, woke up in the middle of the night after hearing loud noises.
He tried to find a way inside the house after talking with Malone and realizing the children were trapped inside, but said the flames were too powerful.
“I was so emotional,” Spencer, 51, told the Baltimore Sun. “I said, ‘Where’s the babies at?’ She said, ‘They’re in the house.’ I said, ‘Please, I’ve got to go get them.’ ”
“The flames was coming from everywhere,” he said. “You could feel the heat.”
Officials are investigating what sparked the blaze.
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