Thirteen people, including seven children, have died in a house fire in Philadelphia after smoke alarms apparently failed to go off.

Firefighters arrived at a house converted into two apartments in the Fairmont neighbourhood at 6.40am local time on Wednesday.

Flames were shooting from a second-floor window in a room believed to be the kitchen, but the fire was brought under control after less than an hour.

Eight people managed to escape and a child and an adult were taken to hospital.

There were four smoke detectors in the house – owned by the city’s public housing authority – but they didn’t appear to be working, fire officials said.

TV pictures showed ladders up against the smoke-blackened three-storey house and holes in the roof where firefighters had broken through.

“I knew some of those kids – I used to see them playing on the corner,” said local resident Dannie McGuire, 34, who added that the children had lived there for a decade.

The names and ages of the victims have not yet been released.

The fire department said the smoke alarms were last inspected in 2020, but city housing official Dinesh Indala said they were looked at in May 2021.

He said the building housed two families of 26 people in total, and that there were six alarms not four.

“Losing so many kids is just devastating. Keep these babies in your prayers,” said Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney.

Philadelphia Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy added: “It was terrible. I’ve been around for 35 years now and this is probably one of the worst fires I’ve ever been to.”

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