Girl hurt in fire in critical condition

A young girl whose mother and brother died in an apartment fire was in critical condition Wednesday, authorities and family members said.

The two-alarm blaze broke out before 8 a.m. and damaged all 16 units in a building at Monteleona Apartments on Briarcliff Road near Emory University, said Capt. Eric Jackson with the DeKalb County Fire-Rescue Department.

The hospitalized girl, believed to be 2 or 3 years old, was being treated for smoke inhalation and burns at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta at Egleston, Jackson said. Authorities had not released the names of the two people who died Wednesday afternoon, but relatives at the scene said they were a mother and son.

More than a dozen families were left homeless, Jackson said.

Neighbors said a family of two adults and four children lived in the victims’ unit, along with two other relatives. Two of the children were believed to have left for school when the fire occurred. DeKalb schools counselors were at the scene trying to find relatives who could care for the survivors.

Staff writer Mike Morris contributed to this report.