Investigation continues into deadly fire

CHICAGO -- Investigators on Monday were still going through debris from a weekend fire that swept through an apartment, killing six children, a fire department official said.

A preliminary investigation indicates candles used for light in an apartment without electricity caused the fire, Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Will Knight said.

The Chicago Police Department also was investigating the blaze in the three-bedroom apartment on Chicago's North Side, which is standard procedure when there are deaths, Officer Marcel Bright said.

The fire, which was the deadliest in Chicago in years, has been classified as accidental, Bright said.

Knight said fire investigators have found no evidence of smoke detectors, although Chicago Alderman Joe Moore said Sunday that he had spoken to the landlord who told him there were smoke detectors in the unit when the Ramirez family moved in.

The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the dead as Vanessa Ramirez, 14; Eric Ramirez, 12; Suzette Ramirez, 10; Idaly Ramirez, 6; and Kevin Ramirez, 3. Friends said the Ramirez family was baby-sitting the sixth girl who died, 3-year-old Escarlet Ramos.

All six victims died of inhalation injuries and Vanessa Ramirez was burned the medical examiner's office said Monday.

The Ramirez children's 40-year-old mother was treated and released from a hospital along with a three-month-old girl. Two other children also were injured and were taken to area hospitals. Their conditions were unknown Monday.

A friend of one of the Ramirez children said their mother originally was from Mexico, but the family had been in the United States for at least 16 years. A call to the Mexican Consulate in Chicago was not immediately returned on Monday.

Fire officials have said the family was relying on candles because they had been without power.

ComEd spokesman John Dewey has said the apartment had been without electricity since May but he wouldn't say why it had been turned off, citing confidentiality issues.