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6-Year-Old Boy Dies After Prince George's County House Fire

CHILLUM, Md. (WJZ)-- A frantic search to rescue a family trapped inside their burning home. Neighbors in Prince George's County watched as firefighters tried saving a young boy.

Adam May reports.

Cell phone video captures a deadly fire that swept through a home in Chillum, Prince George's County.

"When I looked out the window, I started seeing smoke, and about three minutes later, you know, the house was on fire," Reyna Mejia, the family's neighbor, said. "Just three minutes later, windows suddenly started bursting with flames and a lot of sparkles."

"There just one person that I saw and I think that she actually lives in the basement," Yesenia Cruz, the family's next-door neighbor said.

That woman was the only resident who escaped the fire unhurt. Firefighters found two more women and a 6-year-old boy trapped inside.

"The first person that they took out was the little boy," Mejia said. "He wasn't moving at all. I mean, it was bad. It broke my heart. And then I saw them taking one by one, the women. But one of the sisters said that her sister had, you know, burns to her face."

Shocked family members came to witness the aftermath, which fire officials say could have been prevented.

"We didn't find any smoke alarms, let alone a working one," Chief Marc Bashoor of the Prince George's Fire Department said.

The 6-year-old boy died at a hospital. The women in their 30s and 60s are expected to survive their injuries.

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