House fire in Northeast Baltimore leaves two dead, officials say

BALTIMORE -- A Northeast Baltimore community is devastated after a fire left two of their neighbors dead early Saturday morning.

The fire happened along Old York Road.

Tamara Thorton said she remembers waking up early Saturday morning hearing a faint noise from outside her home. 

"So something told me to look up and when I looked up I saw someone over there on the roof faintly saying help. Help," Thorton said. 

She quickly reached for her phone to call 9-1-1. "As I reached for my phone I saw the ambulance and the fire department came on the scene," Thorton said. "It was sad because they are just very good people."

Then, she watched firefighters work in frigid conditions to save her neighbor's life.

According to Baltimore City firefighters, crews responded to the fire on the 4700 block of Old York Road around seven Saturday morning. 

Firefighters say they found two people, and confirmed one victim made an attempt to escape by jumping from the 2nd floor. Firefighters did search and rescue the second victim.

"We have performed a thorough, primary, secondary and tertiary search of this structure on all levels. And a third person was not located," Kevin Cartwright of the Baltimore City Fire Department said. 

Authorities say both victims later died at the hospital, Thorton said. Their identities are not immediately clear, but neighbors say they knew one of the victims as 'Mr. Davis'. 

"I am so sorry for their loss, and their father and their mother were very nice people in the neighborhood. They are going to be very missed," Thorton said. 

Officials said the fire is still under investigation.