Pittsburgh ? Fire raced through a three-story row house early Tuesday, killing five children, and authorities said they were looking for a teenage baby sitter who was supposed to be watching them.

Neighbor Sontaya Perry, 22, said she could hear the children inside the house screaming as the fire raged from the windows before dawn. She said she tried to get in, but the wooden steps leading to the door were in flames.

“They were screaming, and five minutes later they stopped screaming,” Perry said.

On the street outside, two boys who escaped were begging for someone to help for their brothers and sisters, she said.

The victims, ages 3 to 7, were all found on the second floor, authorities said. One was dead on arrival at West Penn Hospital and two others died in the emergency room, said Stephanie Waite, a hospital spokeswoman. The Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office said it had the bodies of a boy and a girl.