Victim in Haverhill blaze remembered as a 'really cute little kid'

(Mark Wilson/Globe Staff)

Firefighters said that when they arrived flames were shooting out of the window at the top of the house.

By Megan Woolhouse, Globe Staff

HAVERHILL -- The mood is somber today on the street where a fire last night killed a woman and her 6-year-old nephew in the attic of their home.

Neighbors said the boy who died, a first-grader, knew many of the kids in the neighborhood. “He was a really cute little kid,” said Christine McDonough, a mother of three who lives nearby.

She said the boy could be seen every day waiting at at the bus stop with his aunt or uncle.

Neighbors and the family pastor last night identified the woman as Mary Pina. Neither the woman’s name nor the boy’s name has been officially released.

The fire was reported at about 9 p.m. on Warren Street.

Fire Chief Richard Borden said last night that firefighters who arrived on the scene saw flames shooting out of the top-floor window. Firefighters ran up the stairs with a hose and were able to contain the blaze to that floor.

The fire started in the building’s attic, which is where the two victims were found, said State Fire Marshal Stephen D. Coan. He said this morning that investigators had worked through the night, but the cause of the blaze was still unknown.

A neighbor told the Globe that Pina refused to leave the house, despite her family’s frantic calls.

McDonough, the neighbor, said her son knew the boy very well and, when she broke the news of the deaths, “I was crying. His mouth was just wide open.”

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