The death toll might have been higher if not for the efforts of Soto and another neighbor, David Todd.

Todd, 40, who lived next door, said one child was already on the ground in the yard when he arrived with Soto outside the burning home. "Please God, help my children!" the woman inside screamed while tossing the children out - and then jumping from the window.

Another neighbor, Elaine Martin, said flames were shooting from the building when she arrived, and a shoeless woman in a nightgown stood crying in the street.

"My kids is in there, my kids is in there," the woman wailed to Martin.

Neighbor Charles O'Neal, 21, watched as firefighters passed along babies still in their pajamas. Later, O'Neal saw two of the children dead, splayed across white plastic on the ground.

There were reports of 19 injuries, including four firefighters and an emergency medical worker. A 7-year-old girl remained in critical condition, while a pair of 6-year-olds were upgraded from critical to good condition.

Part of the problem, according to Mayor Michael Bloomberg, was that residents apparently tried to extinguish the fire themselves.

"Once they were notified, the Fire Department was on the scene in a little more than three minutes," the mayor said. "Sadly, that was not enough time."

The home did not have a fire escape and was not required to under city building codes. There were no complaints or violations on record against the building, constructed in 1901.

In February, Moussa Magassa applied for a permit to divide the building into three apartments. Such a change would have required a fire escape or other evacuation route, city buildings department spokeswoman Kate Lindquist said.

The dead, according to family members, included Fatoumata Soumare, 42, and three children: a son, Dgibril, and 7-month-old twins, Sisi and Harouma. A fourth child, 7-year-old Hasimy, escaped the carnage, her father said.

The family members provided different name spellings than the authorities did.

Authorities identified the members of the Magassa family as four brothers: Bandiougou, 11, Mahamadou, 8, Abudubucary, 5, and Bilaly, 1; and their sister, 3-year-old Diaba.

Varying accounts had the families' names spelled differently.

The fire was New York City's deadliest since the 1990 Happy Land social club blaze in the Bronx that killed 87 people.

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