Eleven MOVE members, including John Africa, five other adults and five children died in the fire. Although the members were all huddled in the basement with access to a back alley, the alley was under police gunfire. The lone surviving woman described bullets flying all around her during first escape attempt, and the lone surviving child described hearing the sound of automatic gunfire when they tried to flee the fire. Participating officers claim this is incorrect. Only Ramona and Birdie Africa survived, but both were severely burned. Birdie was released but Ramona was convicted and sentenced to serve a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison. She served the full time. Despite the fact that the Philadelphia Police Department and Fire Department were found guilty of negligence by the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (MOVE) no criminal charges were filed against any of the perpetrators of the bombing, arson, and murders.