5 children who died in Pa. fire mourned

Hundreds of mourners gathered Saturday to remember five children who died in a row house fire, while investigators tried to determine whether they were left alone or in the care of a baby sitter.

Five caskets _ two white, two pink and one blue _ were surrounded by stuffed animals and flowers at Mount Ararat Baptist Church. They held the bodies of Daekia Holyfield, 7; Cedano Holyfield, 4; Dezekiah Holyfield, 3; Azquel Rankin, 5; and Andre Rankin, 6.

The Rev. William H. Curtis said that despite the questions surrounding the children's deaths, now is not the time for blame.

"What does it matter? Five angels have died," Curtis said. "Who cares what happened and how it happened ... it is our children who died."

The church is not far from where officials say Tuesday's blaze began after children playing with matches set fire to furnishings in the living room on the second floor. The five children were found in an adjoining bedroom, dead from smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning. Two 8-year-old boys escaped uninjured.

Curtis said the deaths were a wake-up call to a black community that loses too many young children needlessly.

"You don't let five kids slip out of here and not think God is trying to tell you something," he said. "These angels are asking you to try a more excellent way."

The victims' mothers did not speak. But in a tribute included in the funeral program, Shakita Mangham, the Holyfields' mother, wrote, "When I look out the window at the rain, I know God has opened his gates of heaven for my children ... Just know that mommy loves her babies and that a soul never dies."

After the 90-minute service, five hearses carried the children's bodies to a cemetery where they were to be buried in adjoining plots. A dozen white and gold balloons were released from the hearses carrying the Rankin children's caskets.

Police said they were told the children were left in the care of a 17-year-old baby sitter while their mothers went out for the night. Police, however, haven't located her and have said longtime residents told them they know of no one who fits the description given by one of the dead children's mothers.

No charges have been filed.

Some said the mothers should be punished if it's determined the children were left alone.

"Kids didn't ask to (be born). We're here to protect them," said Daisy Ausbrook, noting she knew both families. She does not think the children were left in care of a sitter.

Estrella Brooks, a teacher who has taught some in the Holyfield family, but not the victims, said she wasn't there to cast blame.

"In due time, it will all come out," she said.