4-year-old girl killed in rowhouse fire

Several family members injured in city blaze

A 4-year-old girl was killed, and several family members - including an infant - were injured early yesterday in a rowhouse fire in the Poppleton neighborhood of West Baltimore, authorities said.

Andrea Cheeks was pronounced dead at University of Maryland Medical Center, said Agent Donny Moses, a city police spokesman.

Her parents and a 2-month- old also were taken to the medical center, where the infant was in grave condition, said Baltimore Fire Department spokesman Kevin Cartwright, adding that a 2-year-old child was unharmed. Their names were not released.

Firefighters responding to a call about 12:30 a.m. found fire in the first floor and basement of the two-story brick rowhouse in the 1000 block of W. Fairmount Ave., Cartwright said.

They rescued two children from the building, he said. The mother jumped from a second-floor window. The father and an unrelated man who was living in the basement were outside, he said.

One firefighter was injured, treated for a minor burn on a wrist at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Cartwright said.

The cause of the blaze remained under investigation.