Mother Held in Fire Deaths of 2 Toddlers : Investigation: A woman who allegedly left her children unattended may face charges of murder. The South-Central blaze left a third victim in critical condition.

In the aftermath of a Sunday night fire that left two young children dead and a third critically injured, the toddlers’ mother has been arrested for investigation of murder for leaving them alone in her locked and barred apartment shortly before the blaze erupted.

Firefighters arriving at the scene in South-Central Los Angeles about 8 p.m. were unaware that children were trapped in the smoke-filled residence until they broke down a back door and found the three unconscious on the living room floor, authorities said.

The oldest child, 4-year-old Cherise Jackson, had collapsed by the front door, where she apparently had been unable to turn the knob to release the security bolt.

Cherise, along with 2-year-old Carla Barkus, died of smoke inhalation. Cherise’s 3-year-old brother, Christopher Jackson, was in critical condition at Martin Luther King Jr.-Drew Medical Center, where he was being treated for smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation, but authorities speculate it may have been started by the children playing with matches in one of the bedrooms of the two-story, stucco apartment in a converted garage in the 500 block of West 90th Street.

A few hours after the fire, the children’s mother, Brigette Barkus, 31, was arrested and jailed at Sybil Brand Institute for Women. Deputy Dist. Atty. Andrew McMullen said Monday that Barkus will almost certainly be charged with felony child endangerment, and possibly with murder.

“We’re considering filing murder charges,” McMullen said, explaining that until he learned more about the circumstances of the case and the cause of the fire, he could not say for sure whether homicide charges would be brought. If they are, McMullen said, the charges will probably be based on allegations that Barkus knew that one of her children played with matches but nonetheless left the youngsters alone within reach of matches.

Police said Barkus had been gone for at least 30 minutes when the smoky fire broke out on the first floor.

“She was going to a friend’s house and somehow got distracted and went to the liquor store,” said Los Angeles Police Lt. Richard Iddings, who heads the Child Protection Section of the Juvenile Division. “She heard the firetrucks going down the street, and being inquisitive, she followed the trucks down the street and found they were at her house.”

Neighbors who knew Barkus charged that she used cocaine and frequently left her children alone and locked in the apartment, which had every door and window covered with bars or security grates.

“She was a drug user. I know, believe me, I know,” asserted Charles Brown, 38. “It was pitiful. She was no good.”

Another neighbor, Barbara Turner, 34, said that when Barkus left her apartment, “she never had the kids with her. A lot of people didn’t know she had kids.”

Police would not comment on the allegations of Barkus’ drug use.

Iddings said that a boyfriend sometimes stayed with Barkus in the apartment but that he was not the father of any of the children and had not been seen for several days.

James Murdock, 76, who lives two doors from the fire-ravaged apartment, said he had recently seen a man arguing with Barkus in the street, complaining that she left the children alone.

“Never stayed home,” Murdock said. “Everybody in the neighborhood saw the way she was treating the kids.”

Iddings said police had no records of negligence complaints being filed against Barkus.

About 20 Los Angeles firefighters were sent to the apartment after a neighbor reported that a smoke alarm had gone off.

Firefighters found an apartment fortified like a jail. Not knowing if anyone was inside, they hacked and pried open a wooden rear door fastened with a deadbolt and then a locked screen grate to get into the kitchen.

At the front of the apartment they found the children and carried them outside and attempted to revive them, firefighter Jim Flores said.

Fire Capt. Robert Franco said South-Central fire companies encounter heavily protected homes so frequently that firetrucks are equipped with power saws and other tools to get past the locks.