By Marissa Lang and Danny Valentine, Times Staff Writers
Friday, March 30, 2012
TAMPA — A toddler and a young child were critically injured and their mother seriously injured in a house fire early Friday in the 3600 block of E Diana Street, according to Tampa Fire Rescue.
The blaze broke out about 5 minutes before 6 a.m. at 3613 E Diana St. It took about 15 minutes to get it under control, fire officials said.
Ja-niyah Grant, 1, and Elijah Small, 5, were taken to Tampa General Hospital in critical condition. Their mother, Kimberly Mack, 25, was hospitalized in serious condition. The specific nature of Ja-niyah's and Grant's injuries was not immediately available. Mack suffered minor burns, fire officials said.
Chazmaine Small, 6, escaped with his mother and was not injured in the fire.
Investigators determined the fire was accidental and the home was not equipped with smoke detectors. No other information was immediately available.
Lisa Washington, a 46-year-old neighbor, said the family just moved into the home on Feb. 1.
On Thursday, she saw the kids riding their bikes up and down the street. Early this morning, she saw two of them carried out of the burning home and loaded into an ambulance.
"I was in tears," she said. "I was crying because I was thinking about my grandkids."
Washington was sleeping early Friday when a neighbor knocked on her door, trying to wake her up. In the early stages of the fire, it looked like it might spread to nearby homes — hers is just two houses away.
When she stepped outside, Washington said, she saw Mack running up and down the street, pleading for help.
"She was screaming, hollering and saying, 'Help me. Help me. Help my children,' " she said.
Michael Washington, 22, who lives with Lisa, said Mack's house was engulfed in flames when he went outside Friday morning.
"There was fire everywhere. The whole house was covered," he said. "Man, I've never seen anything like that before."
Marissa Lang can be reached at mlang@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3386.