Erick Mendez woke about 12:30 Wednesday morning to the sound of frantic pounding on his door and horrific screams from a neighbor’s son.
“He said, `My little brother is burning! My mom is burning!'” recalled Mendez, 17.
Across the street, a one-story home in the 1800 block of South 57th Avenue was in flames. Officials would later determine the fire was intentionally set. Of the 12 people who lived there, one woman, Raquel Perez, and her son, Cesar Camacho, 6, were still in a bedroom.
Mendez called 911 and ran to the house where two other family members stood, both screaming in terror.
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Mendez and two men, whom he believed to be sons of Perez, grabbed a hose in the yard, hooked it up and tried to douse the blaze, but got only sprinkles of water. They then wrapped blankets around themselves and tried to go into the house, but had to turn back in the hallway.
“It got so hot, so fast,” Mendez said. “You felt like you were in hell.”
Perez, 40, and her son died of smoke inhalation and carbon monoxide poisoning, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Two other children suffered smoke inhalation and were taken to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn with non life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
Perez, a mother of four, was related to the other 11 people–five adults and six children–who lived in the home, authorities said.
The fire, which appeared to have started in the first-floor bedroom, was ruled an arson, according to fire officials. The medical examiner’s office ruled the two deaths homicides.
But Cicero spokesman Dan Proft said the Police Department is “holding off” on characterizing the deaths as homicides pending lab results from evidence collected at the scene. He declined to elaborate on the evidence.
A candle was found in the bedroom, but Proft said police are unsure if it had any connection to the fire. Police have no suspects and no “operational theories,” on the arson, he said.
The first floor and basement were equipped with smoke detectors, but they had no batteries, Proft said. A third smoke detector in the attic, where some of the occupants were staying, did work and alerted them to get out, he said.
The building’s owner, Guillermo Soto, said Wednesday outside the home that the family had electricity and the smoke detectors were “not a factor” in the fire. The last he checked, they were working, he said.
The number of people living in the building violated Cicero town codes, Proft said. A maximum of six can live in a three-bedroom home of that size, he said.
Neighbors said the family lived in the area for less than a year, and knew them only by sight.
Perez’s former address was an apartment in the 5700 block of West Park Avenue, Cicero. Rogelio and Esperanza Sanchez, who own a day-care center on that building’s first floor, said they used to take care of Cesar.
Esperanza Sanchez said Cesar was a fast learner who liked to help set the table and “teach” the other kids at the center. He loved to dance and sing, and was very close to his mother. If she was late picking him up, he would ask for her, repeating “Y mi mama?” over and over again, she said.
“He was so smart. He seemed 8, not 6,” Esperanza Sanchez said tearfully Wednesday at the day care, where she kept photographs of Cesar. “He was everyone’s favorite. Everyone loved him.”
He loved the center so much that after Perez moved from the apartment building a year ago she occasionally took Cesar there–in a taxi because she didn’t drive–as a special treat, Sanchez said.
Perez emigrated from Mexico and was married although she and her husband recently had separated, Rogelio Sanchez said. She worked at McDonald’s making $6.65 an hour. Her husband works in upholstery, he said.
Perez thought of returning to Mexico, but wanted to stay in the United States to give her children better opportunities, Sanchez said.
Perez did not have any enemies, Esperanza Sanchez said, although she said the woman told her she had recently gotten calls at work from someone that “worried” her.
Proft said he was unaware of any phone calls.
Veronica Burgos worked with Perez at the McDonald’s on Roosevelt Road. She had worked there about a year and half, and was saving money with dreams of owning her own home, Burgos said.
“She never said a bad word about anyone or anything,” she said.
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