Thomas MacMillan Photo
Jose Marrero was in bed, looking for a late-night movie to watch on pay-per-view when he heard a commotion outside. A nearby house was on fire. He ran out, not stopping to put on a shirt or shoes — and ended up helping to save his neighbors’ lives.
Marrero lives two doors down from the house at Wolcott Street and Poplar Streets that erupted in flames at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. The fire killed 8‑year-old Quayshawn Roberson, his mother, Wanda Roberson, and another relative. Police say the fire was arson and have determined it to be a triple homicide.
Other tenants could have died too — if not for firefighters and if not for neighbors like 18-year-old Marrero and his friends, who caught several women who jumped and four babies who were handed down from the second-floor porch.
Marrero came out to the street to find flames extending four feet above the roof of the building. People were shouting for help from windows on the second story. A window had exploded on the third floor and flames were bursting out.
With a friend and his cousin, Marrero grabbed four babies whom people handed down from a second-story porch. Then he and his two companions caught three women — one of whom was pregnant — as they lowered themselves from windows on the second story.
Marrero said his cousin tried to run up the stairs inside to rescue more people trapped inside, but couldn’t get past the flames.
After a few moments, the fire department arrived.
Marrero spoke this morning before going to work at a retail energy company called MXenergy. He said the company is in the saving business, too. “We help people save money on their light bills,” he said.
