Boy killed, 3 hurt in W. Phila. fire

A 12-year-old autistic boy was killed Saturday night by a West Philadelphia house fire that also injured two firefighters and a female resident.

The fire, in the 100 block of South 55th Street, broke out shortly before 7 p.m. and spread to three other houses before it was brought under control half an hour later. The boy was discovered in a room on the second floor of 137 S. 55th St., where the fire started, investigators said.

Firefighters rescued a woman from the porch roof. She was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for treatment, as were the two firefighters, whose injuries were minor, a Fire Department spokeswoman said.

More than a dozen people were displaced by the fire, the cause of which was still under investigation. Smoke alarms in the house were not functioning, officials at the scene said. - Art Carey