EagleTribune.com, North Andover, MA
Merrimack Valley
Child, woman die in Haverhill house fire
Published: November 8, 2008
HAVERHILL — A young boy and an older woman perished in a fire that started in the top floor of a house on Warren Street last night.
Deputy Fire Chief Brian Moriarty said firefighters initially had trouble reaching the fire because of clutter in the building at 22 Warren St.
Neighbors said other children who escaped from the house were yelling that their little brother was still inside.
Moriarty described the fire as being in the attic area of the 2 1/2-story, wooden building.
Fire officals did not release the names or the ages of the victims.
But neighbors identified the woman as Mary Pina and the boy as her 6-year-old nephew. They said he was in the first grade.
Red Cross workers on the scene said three families lived in house. Neighbors said some of the residents were disabled.
Joe Woodbury, who said he has been a friend of the family for six years, said the boy was 6 years old and the woman 50 years old. "They had special needs that made them lovable and quite innocent," Woodbury said.
Neighbor Gilligan Monaco of 14 Warren St. said she was alerted to the fire when she heard screaming outside.
"Then we looked out on the sidewalk. There were little kids," she said.
"They just kept saying 'my little brother is upstairs. My little brother is upstairs,'" Monaco said.
Monaco said the children were barefooted and cold. She said some neighbors grabbed some blankets and got them some shoes.
Monaco said Pina's husband got out of the house and said the fire started as a result of a spark from a TV that was knocked over by kids playing.
"The guy came out of the house and said he tried to get his wife out and that his 6-year-old nephew was upstairs with her," Monaco said.
In a brief statement at the scene, Deputy Fire Chief Moriarty confirmed the double fatality.
"Any time you find someone deceased, it's not easy. But it is part of the job," Moriarty said later.
"It's never easy. It never gets easier. Everyone deals with it in their own way," Moriarty said.
Moriarty said firefighters arrived shortly after 9 p.m. He said there was heavy smoke and that the fire was "aggressive."
He said the fire was knocked down quickly, but that access to the attic was difficult because of "clutter" in the building.
The fire left a large, jagged black hole at the peak of the building facing the street.
A state fire marshal was investugating at the scene.
Neighbor Richie Bereira, 26, who lives across the street from the blue and white house, said he was cooking dinner at about 9:10 p.m. when he saw flames leaping more than six feet from the roof.
Houses are built close together on Warren Street. The street is near Route 110 and the VFW.
There was a kids' basketball hoop in the driveway of the house and a high chair and kids toys on the property.
