Thomas Ondrey, Cleveland Plain Dealer via AP Laura Johnson, who once owned the house behind her where nine people died in a fire, embraces Belinda Boyd yesterday in Cleveland. Click photo for larger image.

CLEVELAND -- Seven children and two adults perished in an early morning fire at a crowded house during a children's sleepover, the fire department said. The fire was so hot it scorched the frame of the home jet black and forced back neighbors who rushed in to help.

Eleven people were in the house when the blaze started yesterday about 3 a.m., while two children were there for a sleepover, Assistant Fire Chief Brent Collins said. The victims included a woman and four of her children.

Two people at the house survived.

The cause was unclear last night, but Fire Chief Paul Stubbs said the initial investigation indicated the fire at the 99-year-old home was an accident.

Richard Carter told WKYC-TV that he lost his daughter and several grandchildren in the blaze.

"I just want somebody to pray for me and my family," he said through tears as he trembled in the chilly spring air.

A victim identified as Media Carter was well known in the neighborhood for welcoming her children's friends into her home, offering them rides to school and hosting sleepovers. Authorities said Carter, who was in her 30s, lived in the house with her six children.

"She was real respected. She treated me like a son," said Devon Cabeza, 14. He said he played basketball with one of the victims, an eighth-grade classmate.

Four of Carter's children, 15-year-old Davonte Carter, 13-year-old Moses Williams, 12-year-old Maleeya Williams and 7-year-old Fakih Jones, died in the fire, Collins said.

Also killed were Media Carter's 34-year-old sister Sheria Carter, and Sheria's son Antwone Jackson, 14, Collins said. He identified the other victims as Jackson's cousin Ernest Tate, 13, and a friend, 13-year-old Miles Cockfield.

A coroner's official said some bodies were so badly burned that DNA testing will be needed to positively identify them. Fire investigators identified the victims by interviewing family members, said David Fitz, a spokesman for Mayor Jane Campbell.

One survivor was treated for minor injuries and the other was hospitalized in critical condition, Stubbs said. The nursing supervisor at MetroHealth Medical Center confirmed a woman from the fire was being treated there, but she wouldn't discuss the victim's injuries.

Campbell said she had spoken with family members. "The tragedy was so quick, so overwhelming, the only thing they have asked for at this point is please see if you can figure out how this happened and offer your prayers," she said.

An investigation into the fire's cause centered on the house's first floor, which sustained heavy fire damage, Assistant Fire Chief Tim O'Toole said. The second floor, where all the bodies were found, was heavily damaged by smoke and soot, he said.

Two adjacent homes sustained some fire damage. Firefighters removed three people from those homes through upstairs windows, Campbell said.

The neighborhood about three miles from downtown has older homes that are rented to lower-income families. Many of the houses have been refurbished, but a few are boarded up.

Much of the white, wood-frame house was charred and the roof over the front porch was partially collapsed. Every visible window had been shattered.

As daylight broke, dozens of neighbors, family and friends gathered near the scene, hugging and crying as they surveyed the damage. A smell of soot hung in the air, and firefighters shoveled debris onto a small fenced front yard.

Neta Dawson, who lives across the street, said she awoke in the early morning to loud pops that sounded like gunfire. She said her son, Jennings Dawson, owned the house where Carter lived and took good care of it but didn't live there himself.

"He's taking it hard," said Neta Dawson, 69.

She said her 14-year-old grandson had stopped by the home Friday evening and was thinking about staying over but ended up leaving. "He said it was too crowded," she said.