Mourners remember grandmother and children killed in North Philadelphia fire

NORTH PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - Neighbors are lighting candles to remember a grandmother and her two grandchildren killed in a fire in North Philadelphia. Fire officials say it's too early to tell what caused the fire. FOX 29's Jeff Cole spoke with a family member Tuesday.

On Saturday morning, the three-story house at the corner of N. 6th Street and Montgomery Avenue was engulfed in flames. The victims were 9-year-old Pruedence, who was taken to a hospital but didn't make it. The others -- 7-year-old Dean and the children's 52-year-old grandmother, Monique "Nicki" Figueroa -- were not found until it was too late. The kids' mother and her boyfriend managed to escape.

Flames engulfed the 3-story brick just before 5 a.m. Neighbors say the childrens' mother--who also lived here--jumped out a back window to escape.

Late morning, and Guillory's--father 80-year-old Paul--said he wanted to show FOX 29 something He walked Cole over to what looks to be a gas can up against a side wall of the burned structure with two charred boards covering it. He says he has never seen the can before.

Guillory--who says he's here all the time to work in a side lot--says he fears someone set the fire which claimed his daughter and great-grandchildren. He also talks of a fight out front or the home the night before.

FOX 29 ran Guillory's claims past the city's fire commissioner and showed him a picture of that gas can. He says it's far too early to say what caused this deadly inferno.

For more information on fire safety and home fire escape plans, call your local American Red Cross office (click here with your zip code) or visit redcross.org.