Investigation underway after fire kills 5-year-old-boy
BALTIMORE — Investigators are still figuring out what sparked a fire over the weekend that killed a five-year-old boy, also hurting his twin brother.
In the days since, neighbors also have been in mourning, saying they're ready to support the victims' family in any way they can.
Units responded to a home on the 1600 block of East Oliver Street shortly after 10:30 a.m. Saturday, according to the Baltimore City Fire Department. Firefighters immediately reported heavy fire and smoke and people were said to be trapped in the home.
Firefighters worked fast to put out the fire and pull two five-year-old boys out of the home. They were both taken to the hospital where one of them died. BCFD couldn't give an exact condition of the second boy, but said he is stable.
Since then, it's been a somber couple of days on East Oliver Street.
"We was hoping he would make it. They're good people, a good family, they didn't deserve none of this," said Eric Myers, he lives across from where the fire happened.
On Monday, piles of debris and smoke stains serve as painful reminders of what happened. Myers was home when it sparked.
"Everybody was kind of in a panic, wondering if everybody got out safe," he said. "Then we saw somebody carry [one of the boys] down the block to the ambulance to go to the hospital."
From the start, BCFD assistant fire chief Roman Clark said firefighters were aggressive in taking the fire down.
"This is what we train for each and every day. When it comes upon a situation like this, they know waht they've been trained to do," Clark said.
Myers hasn't seen them since this fire, he and other neighbors say they are ready to help them heal.
"It's just sad, we're just hoping we can come together and make it easier for them," he said.
That includes neighbors that haven't even met this family.
"The community's behind you because we all feel this loss," said James Scott, who lives a block over. "The tragedy here, it's just an unbearable thing."
