"I'm guilty," the 37-year-old Pham said in response to each count of criminally negligent homicide stemming from the fire that caused the deaths of Thi Luong Thach, 35, and Thach's three children.

Pham's lawyers, Adrian Rebollo and William Gouveia, quickly told Judge Roland Fasano that the pleas were made under the Alford Doctrine. That means his client does not admit guilt but concedes there is enough evidence to convict. The judge then finds her guilty.

Senior Assistant State's Attorney Howard Stein told the judge he will recommend a 90-day prison term when Pham is sentenced on March 31.

Pham was the owner of the apartment building that caught fire June 13, claiming the lives of Thach; her son, Hoang Anh Thach, 14; daughter Thi My Trinh Thach, 11; and 3-year-old daughter Daisey Thach.

Thach's 37-year-old husband was severely burned in the fire but survived after an extensive stay at Bridgeport Hospital.

Police said the Thachs' second-floor apartment had no smoke detectors and had bars on the inside of the windows, blocking escape. Another escape route had been nailed shut.

Any of those factors could have meant the difference between life or death for the victims, police said.

Prosecutors originally sought to charge Pham with negligent homicide for all four deaths.

But Stein told the judge Thursday he decided to drop the charge stemming from the mother's death.

He explained that this was because she had initially escaped the burning building, but ran back inside in an attempt to save her children.

Stein said prosecutors would therefore have been unable to prove Pham's negligence contributed to her death.

The fire broke out shortly after 4 a.m. in the kitchen of the Thach's apartment at 1647-1649 Iranistan Ave. According to police and fire investigators, the Thach parents awoke in their rear bedroom to the smell of smoke.

Confronted by a wall of thick smoke as they entered the kitchen, they escaped out the rear door and down the outside rear stairs. Once outside, Rinh Thach ran around to the Iranistan Avenue side of the building to re-enter the apartment through the front, where his children were asleep in their rooms.

Meanwhile, his wife braved the thick smoke and flames, running back in through the rear door.

Investigators said the husband was unable to get in through the front door because it was locked, so he raced back around to the rear.

As he climbed the rear stairs he collided with Jackie Gonzalez, 28, who was fleeing her third-floor apartment with her three young children. Gonzalez convinced Thach it was too dangerous to return, and he collapsed on the sidewalk.

Firefighters attempted to get to the wife, who was in her bedroom, only to be forced back when the third floor collapsed into the second-floor kitchen.

The wife's body was found on her bedroom floor. In a second bedroom, firefighters found the Thach's elder daughter dead in her bed. The 3-year-old, who was in the same bedroom, was found lying outside her crib. In the front bedroom, their son was lying on the floor next to his bed.

According to the autopsy report, all of the victims died from smoke inhalation.

In her report, Police Detective Kimberly Biehn states that no smoke detectors were found either in the second- or third-floor apartments.

In the son's bedroom, a French-style glass-pane door leading to the front stairway had been nailed shut from the inside and was blocked from the outside by a large dresser, she stated. The bedroom windows had homemade security bars that were bolted shut and could not be opened for escape.

Daniel Tepfer, who covers state courts and law enforcement issues, can be reached at 330-6308.