Dining room candles sparked this week's Crafton Heights house fire that killed two children, according to investigators.

Firefighters discovered William White, 10, and Jordan White, 4, in a second-floor bedroom of the house on Litchfield Street early Monday morning. They died from heart-related injuries and smoke inhalation.

The boys' mother, Aisha White, escaped with her 6-year-old daughter, Paje, who was uninjured.

Ms. White, 28, suffered burns over 30 percent of her body and remained in treatment at UPMC Mercy yesterday. She is expected to make a full recovery and could be released by the end of the week.

"She's a remarkably sturdy woman," said Sheran White, Aisha White's mother-in-law. "She's been surrounded by loving family members and friends."

The fire was the second major tragedy to strike the family in the last two years.

In March 2007, Sheran White's son, William White III -- the father of William and Jordan -- was shot and killed outside a Sheraden bar, a murder that remains unsolved.

"I lean on my faith," said Sheran White, 51, who works at the Allegheny Center Alliance Church on the North Side. "We're not walking through this alone."

Paje is staying with friends of the family, Ms. White said. Her granddaughter and William were students at Imani Christian Academy in the East Hills, but Paje now will attend another school.

"We felt it was too difficult for her to go back to Imani without her brother," Ms. White said.

Donations for Aisha and Paje White can be sent to the White Family Memorial Fund at Citizens Bank, 603 Stanwix St., Pittsburgh 15222 or the Family of Aisha White at National City, 2400 Ardmore Blvd., Pittsburgh 15221.

Funeral arrangements for the White brothers are incomplete.