WASHINGTON - Six people were killed in an early morning fire in a northeast home on New Year's Day, a blaze described by Mayor Adrian Fenty in a Friday morning press conference as the deadliest fire in Washington in three decades.

72-year-old Charles Smith, 23-year-old Keith Nelson, his girlfriend 22-year-old Tawana Gantt and their daughter 4-year-old Kaniya were all killed in the fire. In addition, the son of the owner of the house 10-year-old Joseph Wilson also passed away.

Fire department spokesman Alan Etter says an 11-year-old boy suffered from severe smoke inhalation and had been on life support since the incident. Devastated, the family had doctors take the boy off life support Friday afternoon.

Etter said eight people from two families were inside the home in the 1000 block of Jackson Street when the fire broke out early Thursday. A ninth person came to the home during the fire and was transported to the hospital as a precaution. About 120 firefighters put out the blaze.

Etter also said the home had smoke detectors hard-wired into the electrical system, but for most of the people sleeping inside the home early New Year's Day, if there was a warning, it came too late. They believe that the electrical system started the fire, and that it burned in the basement ceiling, possibly for some time, before spreading to the rest of the two-story home.

Fire officials say the house was built in the 1940s or 1950s, and the style of its construction was meant to allow heat to pass easily from room to room. The design also allowed the fire to travel rapidly through the structure.

Neighbors recalled seeing two people on the roof of the house who were rescued when firefighters arrived, but for six others in the home the outcome was much more grim.

Family and friends came from around the area upon hearing the tragic news. A distraught grandmother showed ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 reporter Sam Ford a picture of her son Keith's 4-year-old daughter, both killed in the fire.

"Oh Jesus...everybody dead," said a neighbor.

Among the dead is a mother and father, Tawana Gantt and Keith Nelson, both just celebrated birthdays.

"Come on man, my brother's gone on his birthday; we just celebrated his birthday...it's crazy," said Nelson's brother, Demetrius May.

ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 reporter Jay Korff spoke with an emotional family member of Tawana Gantt.

Just a few days a ago, Gantt celebrated a surprise birthday party with a broad smile and buoyant spirit. A friend caught it all on videotape. Loved ones said Gantt's life was full of promise even at the young age of 22.

Gantt's first cousin Michelle West was there to celebrate her birthday.

"Tawana, she was so beautiful and such a big-hearted person," said West.

Family members say early New Year's Day Tawana, her little girl Kaniya and her boyfriend Keith Nelson were among those killed in the fire. They lived in the basement where officials say the fire began.

"A tragedy of this magnitude doesn't happen often , if ever, in this city," said Mayor Fenty.

ABC7/NewsChannel 8 has learned that Gantt's life was about to change and her career about to blossom.

D.C. Councilmember Harry Thomas says Gantt volunteered in his office and he was ready to offer her a full time job.

"We just need to know she was a giving, loving kid," Coucilmember Thomas said. "It's very disturbing to me because I am so personally involved with this family and the tragedy that this family has had over a short period of time."

The councilmember is referring to another tragedy that devastated this very family this very same month just two years ago when the owners of the charred home, Michelle and Oscar Wilson mourned the loss of their 17-year-old daughter, Taleshia Ford who was accidentally shot and killed at a club.

The fire has been one of the worst tragedies in memory. Neighbors and kin crowded around the homes of families of the victims while Mayor Adrian Fenty and other city officials came to offer condolences. 

Officials also say, along with Mayor Fenty, they will be distributing smoke detectors in the neighborhood. However, officials are still trying to find out if the smoke detectors at the home worked as they continue to investigate.

The six lives lost is nearly the total number of fire related deaths in all of 2008.

"It is hard to imagine buy in just one day we have almost had the same number of fatalities that we had in 2008," said D.C. Chief Dennis Rubin.

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