New video shows inside of damaged Highlandtown row-home after deadly fire
BALTIMORE -- New video shows a look inside one of the damaged row-homes after the deadly fire broke out in southeast Baltimore.
The fire took the lives of a man and two siblings ages 8 and 13.
Lessy and Antonia Mejia lived just two doors down from the victims.
The Mejias said the victims came from Guatemala and moved into the home about three years ago. They would see the family nearly every afternoon after work or would see them walk the kids to school. But they never thought that Monday would be the last time they would wave.
"I feel very hurt over the boy who died because he was kind and very caring," Antonia Mejia said in Spanish. "They seemed like good people and it's not easy when you lose your family members."
Lessy struggles to look at images of the fire on the 3400 block of East Lombard Street. She prays for her three neighbors who died; an 8-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a 22-year-old man.
The Mejia family said they need mental health assistance because of the trauma of losing their neighbors and remembering the chaos of waking up to smoke coming through their bathroom early Tuesday morning.
Nine people were living in the Mejia home, 7 adults and two children. All were able to escape but now they are struggling to pick up the pieces of their life.
Lessy recorded the damage inside their home after the fire was put out. The flames scorched the ceilings and walls as ash covered room after room.
Lessy said her 5-year-old daughter will not stop crying about how much she misses her home and doesn't understand why they can't go back.
They have now moved to a new empty home but are in need of food, clothes, and furniture.
Pastor Mark Clark with the Breath of God Lutheran Church is coordinating donation efforts for the families impacted. Donations can be made online or by visiting the church in person at 141 S. Clinton St.
