BRIDGEPORT A young mother died and her two small children were in critical condition early today after a raging, smoky fire swept their Colorado Avenue apartment late Friday night.

A bystander who kicked in the doors of their home, between Maplewood Avenue and Denver Court, was unable to rouse the three. Firefighters from Rescue Company 5 later removed the victims showing few signs of life from the apartment. None of the three victims was identified but a Bridgeport Hospital spokesman, John Cappiello, said one of the children was a baby of three months and the other was 5-years-old. Their genders were not immediately known. A source said the children were badly burned and remained near death early today.

A spokesman for St. Vincent's Medical Center said the mother, 26, had died but it was not immediately clear whether she died of smoke inhalation at home or on her way to the hospital.

Bridgeport police and arson investigators rushed to the scene.

The fire was reported at 10:26 p.m. in a wood-frame multifamily home on Colorado Avenue near Denver Court.

The woman and children lived on the first floor, said her uncle, Maurice Smith, the third-floor tenant. The second floor is being renovated, he said.

Ten-year-old David Garcia was visiting in a house nearby when he saw flames billowing from the first floor.

He told his father, Pablo Garcia, who ran to help.

I kicked in the door to see if anyone was in there, he said. I almost got burned.

He said he also rang the doorbell, and kicked in the back door.

The noise roused Smith, who was watching television. He ran downstairs and out to safety.

I heard the knocking and I heard the doorbell, Smith said.

Smith then told Garcia that his niece and her two children were still in the house. The flames were so intense that Garcia said he was unable to get inside. Firefighters first removed the two children and then wheeled the woman out on a stretcher.

Grieving family members followed, screaming in anguish.

Meanwhile, Smith, who had just moved to his apartment last October, stood clutching the TV remote he had run out with while firefighters smashed out the windows of his apartment to vent smoke from the building.

Oh man, oh man, he moaned repeatedly.

Also, an unidentified man was arrested at the scene. The reason and circumstances were not immediately available.

He was handcuffed and left sitting in the back of a police cruiser late Friday until his disposition could be arranged.

Aaron Leo, who covers regional issues, can be reached at 330-6222.