Rachel Finn and Deausha Faulk were more than just half-sisters, family members said.

The 9-year-old fourth-grader and 6-year-old kindergartner were best friends who shared a bedroom, played with baby dolls and doll houses and collected beads.

"They were very, very close," said their mother, Markell Finn-Faulk. "You didn't see one without the other. They played together. They colored together. They did everything together. They passed away together."

Rachel, Deausha and their cousin Michael Zigler, 2, died early Friday morning of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning after a blaze tore through a townhouse in the 2800 block of Soltis Drive in the Century Towne Homes complex in Clairton.

The girls had spent Thursday evening playing with neighbors, Michael and his older sister Tiarra Williams, 17.

As evening fell, Ms. Finn-Faulk shooed the neighbor kids away and got her brood ready for bed.

Her children, Essence Finn, 14, Daishawn Smith, 11, Rachel and Deausha fell asleep in bedrooms on the second floor, along with Tiarra and Michael.

Once the house quieted down, Ms. Finn-Faulk cleaned the kitchen, then fell asleep on a couch on the first floor. She awoke at about 1 a.m. to the sound of the smoke detector going off.

Investigators have not yet discovered or issued a ruling on the cause of the blaze, but Ms. Finn-Faulk said when she looked into the kitchen, the ceiling near the back room that contained the hot water tank and the furnace was on fire.

She panicked, unable to find her phone to call the fire department, and ran outside to tell her neighbors to call for help. Her oldest daughter, Essence, had gotten out of the house, and so had Daishawn and Tiarra.

But her two youngest children, and their cousin Michael, were still upstairs, behind a wall of black smoke.

She and Daishawn wanted to run up the stairs to save them, but the smoke and flames were unbearable, and the firefighters could not reach the children in time.

Ms. Finn-Faulk and her two other children are receiving help from the Red Cross, but yesterday, they were at a family member's house in the Hill District. Relatives spoke tearfully about the two girls.

Rachel, the 9-year-old, loved pizza, swimming and Hannah Montana, said her aunt, Tawana Clark of Northview Heights. She could be moody and get in fights sometimes, but she was a happy child, and was becoming more and more outgoing, inviting lots of friends over to play.

Deausha wanted to be an artist when she grew up, her mother said. She would sit for hours, drawing and coloring.

"Rachel loved her little sister, and Deausha loved her big sister," said their uncle, Harry Shaw of East Liberty.

The girls shared more than a room and a love of the color pink. Both girls' fathers are incarcerated, though Ms. Finn-Faulk expects Rachel's father to be released Tuesday, and she hopes Deausha's father, her husband, will be able to leave prison to attend the funeral service for the girls Saturday at Good Hope Baptist Church in East Liberty.

"I've been doing this by myself basically, on and off, since I was 14," said Ms. Finn-Faulk, who is 29. "Their dads being around them was extra. I was, more or less, mom and dad."

And she was good at raising her growing family, relatives said. She and her children moved often, from Garfield to Hazelwood to Homewood, but the kids were never left alone and were always happy, they said.

In July, they moved to Clairton, after spending 40-some days at a 30-day women's shelter in the Hill District, Ms. Finn-Faulk said. She had no job, but they got by with money from the government and from family members.

Ms. Finn-Faulk said they will struggle to afford the funeral costs, since the three children did not have insurance.

Both Rachel and Deausha were students at Clairton Elementary School. The Clairton City School District has set up a fund for the family. Donations for the funeral can be sent to 502 Mitchell Ave., Clairton, PA 15025.

Funeral services for Michael Zigler will be held Friday in Clairton. Ms. Finn-Faulk did not know what church was holding the service.

Family members are making T-shirts to remember the two girls.

"This is the hardest thing ever, for a mother to lose the two that make me want to wake up in the morning," Ms. Finn-Faulk said.

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