Live Updates: Philadelphia Rowhouse Fire Leaves 13 Dead, Including 7 Children

Survivors of the fire that killed 13 people, including seven children, gathered at an elementary school about a block south of the scorched rowhouse on Wednesday morning. Cries could be heard from inside as a helicopter whirred overhead.

One woman embraced another with a Salvation Army blanket draped around her and told a reporter she couldn’t answer questions yet. “It’s too hard right now,” she said.

Darrell L. Clarke, Philadelphia’s City Council president, said that several of the children who died were students at the Bache-Martin School, where survivors gathered. Mr. Clarke represents the Fairmount neighborhood where the fire took place.

Shalai Young, a mental health technician who lives in Northeast Philadelphia, stood nearby, observing the damage. “When you see so many people lose their lives in one area, that’s tragic,” she said.

Ms. Young said her work had brought her to the neighborhood before, which she described as “family oriented.”

Dozens of firefighters and police officers milled around the rowhouse near the corner of 23rd and Parrish streets in the Fairmount neighborhood, north of Center City. A ladder remained propped against the building, which had at least 26 people inside at the time of the fire, officials said.

Footage from local television stations showed large holes in the roof of the building after the fire appeared to have been extinguished. Many windows in one rowhouse had been smashed out and were blackened by rings of soot.

Ms. Young said she was hoping to help the family and any neighbors displaced by the blaze, starting with “the necessities.”

“In a fire, you lose things that we take for granted every day, you know, shoes, socks, blankets, pajamas, toiletries,” she said. “Anything, any way I can help.”

Mr. Clarke, the City Council president, said his office had been flooded with offers of resources for the victims of the fire.

“It’s a tight-knit community,” he said in a phone interview. “The outpouring of support is encouraging.”

— Joel Wolfram and Neil Vigdor