2 Teenagers Die in Blaze As Rescue Efforts Fail

Father Tries to Reach Trapped Fairfax Girls

A Fairfax County father tried desperately to rescue his two teenage daughters early yesterday when a fast-moving fire engulfed their home, but the sisters became trapped in an upstairs bedroom and were killed, according to fire officials and witnesses.

The father's screams for help summoned several neighbors, a group of whom tried to enter the home but were turned back by thick smoke and flames. When firefighters arrived a few moments later, at 12:28 a.m., they found two distraught adults outside the home: a woman and a man bleeding from his hands, his voice hoarse from smoke.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze on Popkins Lane in about 30 minutes and then found the two girls, Morgan Whitsett, 16, and Ashley Whitsett, 13, in the upstairs room. They apparently died of smoke inhalation as they tried to escape, fire officials said.

"It seemed like they were trying to find their way out of the structure," said Lt. Willie F. Bailey, the fire department spokesman. Officials said the home did not have a functioning smoke detector.

Bailey said fire investigators had not yet determined the cause of the blaze, which rapidly coursed through the small stone Cape Cod in the Penn Daw neighborhood and caused an estimated $200,000 in damage. The fire remains under investigation.

Fire officials were working with county homicide detectives, as is routine in fire fatalities. Detectives interviewed witnesses on the street throughout the early morning hours, fire officials said.

"There is no reason to believe it [the fire] is suspicious at this time," Bailey said.

The man at the scene -- whom firefighters had not identified but neighbors said was the girls' father, Louis C. Whitsett -- was taken to the burn unit at Washington Hospital Center for treatment of minor burns and other injuries.

The woman at the scene, who also had not been identified, was taken to a hospital and is being held for observation, Bailey said.

Neighbors who heard Whitsett's shouts and ran to aid the family described a chaotic and terrifying scene as flames shot into the air.

Jay Landreth, 52, a University of the District of Columbia employee, said he heard a commotion and looked outside his window to see smoke pouring from a window air-conditioning unit on the second floor.

Landreth dialed 911 and ran outside to help.