FATAL FIRE
Family suffers horrible losses in early-morning Camden blaze

By
SARAH GREENBLATT & LAVINIA DECASTRO
Courier-Post Staff

An early-morning fire destroyed an East Camden duplex Tuesday, killing a toddler, critically injuring his parents and five young relatives and leaving two families homeless.

"We lost everything," sobbed Felipa Maximiliano, 39, whose 18-month-old grandson, Alex Palillero, died after flames erupted at 4113 Westfield Avenue. Only five of her 12 family members escaped without serious injuries, and three children jumped into rescuers' arms from a second-floor window.

Flames spread to an adjoining home at 4115 Westfield, where a mother and her three children fled without serious injuries.

One firefighter was treated for smoke inhalation while battling the blaze, which was reported at 2:47 a.m. The fire's cause is under investigation, authorities said.

Members of the dead child's family said they awoke to find their home filled with smoke and flames.

"It was impossible," said Malecio Palillero, 38, the toddler's grandfather, who said family members initially tried to fight the fire. "Everything was gone, even my grandchild."

Nearby residents, alerted by screams, rushed to the burning house and found a nightmarish scene.

Neighbor Daisy Pagan said people were shouting tirate -- jump -- to a woman who appeared to be holding a screaming baby at a second-floor window.

Pagan said the woman seemed reluctant to jump -- and, moments later, the baby stopped screaming.

"You couldn't see any fire, it was just black smoke," said Pagan.

Alex Palillero, 18 months, was taken to Cooper University Hospital, Camden, where he was pronounced dead at 3:49 a.m.

Authorities said the toddler's mother, Adriana Roldan, 19, was in very critical condition Tuesday in the burn unit of Temple University Hospital, Philadelphia.

The child's father, Alfredo Palillero, 22, and his 3-year-old brother, Eduardo, were in critical but stable condition at the hospital, according to Bill Shralow, a spokesman for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.

Alfredo Palillero's sister, Guadalupe, 18, and brothers Efren, 19, and Miguel, 15, were also in critical but stable condition at Temple, Shralow said.

The tragedy made a vivid impression on Westfield Avenue resident Webb Jones.

Courier-Post photo
Firefighters work to quell the blaze that broke out early Tuesday at a duplex in the 4100 block of Westfield Avenue.

A firefighter is treated for smoke inhalation at the Westfield Avenue fire early Tuesday. A child was killed in the blaze.

Twin brothers Jonathan and Alex Reina, 14, stand across the street from their home, which was destroyed by fire early Tuesday. Their family escaped with no injuries.

A policeman stands outside the burned-out Camden duplex. A toddler was killed in the blaze and several of his relatives were injured.

"Fire, coming up everywhere," said Jones, adding that he saw a woman jump out a window.

"It was something else," Jones said. "I've never seen anything like that in my life.

The blaze began in the living room of 4113 Westfield and quickly spread to 4115, said Camden city chief fire marshal Ralph A. Roberts.

Malecio Palillero said he and his wife were sleeping in a first-floor room when the fire began. The remaining 10 family members were upstairs, he said.

Authorities were still investigating whether the home had working smoke detectors, said Roberts.

Olga Torres, who lived at 4115 Westfield, said she heard the shrill sound of smoke detectors as she stood outside her own home, but that she didn't believe any alarm had sounded in her neighbors' home.

Juan Diaz, a landscaper who lives in the 4000 block of Westfield Avenue, said in Spanish that he tried to help several burned children as they jumped out of windows.

Authorities said Diaz and another Westfield Avenue resident were treated for minor injuries after the fire.

Diaz, along with some family members, said it took 25 to 30 minutes for firefighters to arrive at the scene. But Roberts rebutted that, saying firefighters arrived promptly and that sometimes time seems longer to those in crisis.

Pagan said she thought police and firefighters arrived promptly but that their efforts were hampered by the lack of a hydrant in the 4100 block of Westfield Avenue.

The closest hydrant was around the corner on 41st Street, Pagan said.

City fire officials said the hydrant's location did not hinder their response.

Thirty-five firefighters brought the two-alarm blaze under control in an hour, Roberts said. Firefighters used ladders to help some occupants of the burning home escape, Roberts said.

Capt. John Church was treated for smoke inhalation and released from Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Shralow said.

Heat and smoke from the blaze damaged the outer walls of two neighboring properties, at 4111 and 4117 Westfield, Roberts said.

Ezekiel Mfon, a Westfield Avenue landlord, said the Palillero home was recently rehabbed by its owner and was in good condition.

Camden City Councilman Frank Moran said the Torres family is being housed at a hotel with the help of the American Red Cross. He said the Palillero family also will receive assistance.

Roxanne Hughes, who is rehabbing a home across Westfield Avenue, said the burned house had been a joyful sight on Monday afternoon.

"I saw a lady and a child go in with a big cake," Hughes said. "It looked like a birthday cake."

Staff writers Teresa Sicard-Archambeault, Jason Laughlin and Jim Walsh contributed to this report.

'As long as I got my kids out of there'

By JASON LAUGHLIN
Courier-Post Staff

Olga Torres awoke to screaming about 3 a.m. Tuesday.

The screaming seemed to come from everywhere, she remembered. People were saying there was a fire.

In bed beside her at her Camden home, 4115 Westfield Avenue, was her 14-year-old son, Jonathan Reina. Also on the second floor, in their bedrooms, were Jonathan's twin brother, Alexander Reina, and her daughter, Yanilka Reina, 15.

"I said, "Get out, get out, fire,' " Torres, 36, remembered. "I didn't even look at the window. I didn't even look nowhere. I just tried to escape from the fire."

Wearing a nightgown, Torres first woke her son beside her. Then the two of them woke her other son and daughter.

"I didn't know what was going on," Alexander recalled. "I thought somebody was in the house."

Torres hustled her family downstairs. Smoke billowed into the home under the front door and they turned to escape out the back, she said.

When they got outside, Torres saw fire ravaging the home connected to her own. Flames were visible through the windows and open doors. The family who lived there, eight adults and four young children she believed were from Mexico, had already left for area hospitals, she said.

Courier-Post photo
Olga Torres recalls how she and her three children fled the fire that destroyed her family's home on Westfield Avenue in Camden on Tuesday..

Olga Torres (front) and her family are being sheltered at the Holiday Inn in Cherry Hill after a fire destroyed their home. With her in the room are daughter Yanilka, sons Jonathan and Alexander, her sister Marilyn Torres and her nephew Raymond Vazquez..

Her neighbors told her they had jumped out windows to escape. Another family in the neighborhood had climbed to second-story windows to help young children escape, she said.

Her children stood outside in shorts and undershirts. Jonathan and Yanilka didn't even have socks, she said. Neighbors brought them sweat pants, jackets and socks as the fire spread into Torres' home of six years, destroying it.

The Red Cross placed her family Tuesday in the Holiday Inn on Route 70 in Cherry Hill. Joined by Torres' sister, Marilyn Torres, 46, and Torres' best friend, also named Marilyn Torres, 32, the family seemed upbeat considering their ordeal. Alexander and Jonathan played cards and Yanilka lay on a bed with her aunt. Olga Torres' most pressing concern was what to tell her husband.

Alberto Reina, 51, has been at Virtua Memorial Hospital Burlington County in Mount Holly since Friday, recovering from an anxiety attack. Afflicted with schizophrenia, he has been experiencing extreme bouts of depression lately, his wife said. Though he is taking medication, she doesn't know when her husband will be released, and how he will react to the news of the fire.

"I don't want to really tell him," Torres said.

The family can stay in two rooms in the hotel for three days and after that would be able to stay for 30 days in a apartment on State Street in North Camden. The city keeps that apartment for emergencies.

"It's fortunate that we have it," said the Rev. Tony Evans, head of the city's Department of Health and Human Services. "When people get put out, homeless, for short-term purposes we put people there until they can get into other housing."

Torres' burned home was Section 8 housing, and she may be able to find another home through Section 8 by the end of the week. She will be given a list of available properties and if she wants to move into one it could be available to her quickly, she said. Her concern was that a new home might not be in a neighborhood where she would want her children to be.

The Red Cross also provided $225 in vouchers for food at the hotel restaurant, Red Hot and Blue, and $700 in vouchers for clothes at Target, she said.

Shopping was the main priority Tuesday, Torres said. She intended to go to Target to find at least one new outfit for each of her children, she said.

"I feel hurt for everything that happened, but I feel very proud that I managed to get out from that fire," she said. "As long as I got my kids out of there, that's my whole life."

After Fire,
Family Needs Aid

Two teenage brothers burned in a deadly house fire were released from a hospital Wednesday, while authorities continued to search for the cause of the blaze that destroyed an East Camden duplex.

Also, authorities said a relief fund has been established to help two families left homeless by Tuesday's predawn blaze.

"I'm asking for anyone who can help these families . . . to please send money to this fund," said City Councilman Frank Moran. "These families have lost everything."

Catholic Charities in Camden is collecting furniture and clothing for the fire victims, he added. The American Red Cross also is helping the families.

The blaze killed 18-month-old Alex Palillero and hospitalized six of his relatives. Twelve members of the Palillero family lived at 4113 Westfield Avenue, where the fire began.

Four people escaped without serious injuries from an adjoining home that was also destroyed.

It could take days or weeks to determine the fire's cause, said Braulio Villegas, the city's assistant chief fire marshal. "We're doing a thorough investigation."

Efren Palillero, 19, and his brother Miguel, 15, were released Wednesday from Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Courier-Post photo
Angeles Palillero looks over a memorial to 18-month-old Alex Palillero, who died in Tuesday's fire in Camden.

Alex Palillero was killed in Tuesday's fire in Camden.

The dead toddler's parents, Alfredo Palillero, 22, and Adriana Roldan, 19, remained in critical condition in the hospital's burn unit.

But their surviving son, 31-month-old Eduardo Palillero, was upgraded to fair condition, as was Guadalupe Palillero, 18, sister of Alfredo, Efren and Miguel.

The Palilleros are living at a relative's home in Pennsauken, where the living room on Wednesday held a shrine to the Virgin of Guadalupe, Mexico's patron saint. Nearby was a tiny white suit, intended for the toddler's funeral.

Visitors streamed into the house throughout the day, bringing food and offering support. Some did not know the family personally, but shared roots in the town of San Lucas, Mexico.

"We are a small community," said Felipe Morales, a Mexican migrant living in Camden. "So we come here and give our support."

Sister Claire Sullivan, from Camden's Holy Name parish, led a prayer as family members and others knelt before the shrine.

"Let's pray for the soul of Alex, who is in heaven right now," she said. "Let's also pray for the relatives in the hospital and for the family and friends who have come together to support the Palillero family."

Staff writer Jim Walsh contributed to this report.