Boy, 2 adults hurt leaping from city fire

A 4-year-old boy, a 48-year-old woman, and a 58-year-old man were hospitalized after leaping from the third floor of a burning home in Philadelphia's East Mount Airy section early yesterday.

The three, whom officials declined to identify, were taken to Temple University Hospital. The boy and man were listed in critical condition and the woman in stable condition.

Fire crews were called to the home, in the 200 block of East Cliveden Street, about 4:40 a.m. and found the second and third floors in flames, Fire Department Executive Chief Daniel Williams said. The blaze was extinguished a short time later, he said.

An extension cord attached to a portable heater caused the fire, Williams said.

The owner of the home lived on the first floor and allowed a couple to live on the third floor, which was not an apartment, Williams said. He said smoke detectors had alerted the owner to the fire.