He was a healthy 18 year old, but not even the vigor of youth could save Walter Rivera from a fire that gutted his home and trapped him inside.
The Fire Department responded to a call of fire in the Hunter's Lane area shortly after 3 on Sunday morning, and when they arrived fought to contain the fire and keep it from spreading to other houses in the congested neighborhood. But, for the family that lost a loved one, no effort is enough and today their grief was hardened by bitterness, because they felt something could have been done to save Walter Rivera.
Alfonso NobleReporting,
Shortly after 3 on Sunday morning, this house located at the corner of Hunter’s Lane and Kelly Street was gutted by fire. While that is bad enough compounding it is that 18-year-old Walter Rivera perished in the flames. Hector Mauricio Rivera, Walter’s brother, says he had seen him earlier that night and he was drinking.
Hector Rivera, Victim’s Brother
“Early at around 7 I saw him drinking with some friends. He was drinking for about half an hour in the house and then I heard my brother telling his friends to go with him to Copa Cabana. So they left to go there. He came back drunk and I asked him if he was straight and he said yes. I told him when goes to sleep to not lock the door so my other sister and brother can come in. When I was trying to tell him not to lock the door he told me not to play games with him. I told him I wasn’t playing games. I didn’t think something would happen to him. That didn’t even cross my mind. I didn’t know.”
What he did not know is that half an hour after his brother went to sleep the house would begin to burn.
Hector Rivera,
“He went to sleep. About half an hour after he went to sleep I went to sleep and I laid down on the ground on some sponge which I put there. About half an hour later, I am not sure but I think it was half an hour later, I felt the heat coming to me. So I when I felt the heat I tried to warn my family. I went to help my mom and my little sister and then my little brother too. Since the fire came close to me I was doing everything to help him in the same way. After that well sorry for him because I couldn’t help him and he couldn’t come out so I still felt bad because I tried to help him but the fire didn’t give me a chance to help him because it came close to me. When I woke up I saw fire upstairs and I knew it was close to the room where my family was in and then I ran and told them to get out.”
Maria Gomez, Mother
[Translation] “When I woke up I went out of my room and I saw that my son was in flames. He was catching fire. I ran outside and I asked for help and no one helped me. No one stopped.”
Hector Rivera, Brother
“I didn’t save him because when I saw fire coming through the kitchen it was coming through the door which I had to come out of. The fire was trying to close me out and then I saw my brother had no way to come out. I said sorry for my brother and I jumped outside which is when I saw the whole house on fire. I feel bad for him.”
Maria Gomez,
[Translation] “I tried to open the door and I knocked and I knocked my best. I wanted to take him out and drag him out if I could but the door was locked so I couldn’t do anything. I couldn’t save my son’s life. All I could hear was him just screaming. And he was in pain and he didn’t holler for me and say mom or nothing. He was just in pain.”
This morning as Hector and his sister Bernalda revisited the scene, Bernalda simply broke down, unable to contain her grief any more. It is made doubly difficult for her because she believes the firemen didn’t do everything in their power to save her brother.
Bernalda Rivera, Victim’s Sister
“They had the right to go into the house, break down the door, break down the wall, and do something to take him out. My brother was still alive when they reached. My brother was shouting asking for help. Probably he managed to come out of the room and he thought that maybe my mother was in the room and he ran maybe to help my mother and that’s where they found him, in my mother’s room by the door. That means he came out and went to look for my mother. So he was still alive in the house. Maybe he was getting burnt and those stuff but I know that he could have still been here if they would give away their life to save another one because I think that’s their duty. Their duty is not just to go and out the fire and throw water on the house. Their duty is to go in the house, look for the people, and try to take them out. They didn’t do that.”
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
“Firemen are not supermen, firemen are human like all of us. They went there, there is an officer who is responsible, and they decide, someone must decide, at what point to enter a building and at what point not to enter a building. If you get at a fire and you see flames coming through the windows that means almost everything in the building has already been burnt.”
Added to that is that when the firemen made their search, Walter was not where he was last.
Henry Baizar,
“For some strange reason, his body was not found in that room but in the mother’s room. We don’t know where he was. When they broke down the door the fire department was still not there yet and he was not in the room where they said he was sleeping.”
Hector Rivera, Victim’s Brother
“When the fire was finished I saw my little brother break down the door and head to the room where my mother sleeps. So I told my mom but she couldn’t understand me. He had fire in his room and the door was locked. I tried to break down the door and I couldn’t so I don’t know how he came out from his room and went to look if my mom was in the room.”
For family members, the loss was great but worse than that is that they claim that a fireman was grossly insensitive to them.
Maria Gomez, Mother
[Translation] “These were the words the firemen said ‘he was burnt like barbecue.”
Henry Baizar, Fire Chief
“Well maybe he said it. I can’t say he didn’t say it.”
“You are accusing the fireman that he did it. You are accusing the fireman that he did it. I don’t know if he did it because I was not there and you were not there.”
Alfonso Noble,
Is it possible that he could have said it?
Henry Baizar,
“Yes it is possible. I am not saying that he did not say it but you are saying that he said it.”
Alfonso Noble,
The family member who it was told to, told us..
Henry Baizar,
“Well you believe her then. That’s it, you believe her so I can’t change your mind because you already believe her.”
Alfonso Noble,
If you are a grieving person and you tell me something that somebody told you I will believe it.
Henry Baizar,
“Well that’s your opinion and you have a right to your opinion.”
Alfonso Noble,
Somebody said that the fireman was insensitive to the family member, what is your procedure from there?
Henry Baizar,
“We will do an investigation.”
Alfonso Noble,
And if proven?
Henry Baizar,
“Then we will deal with him.”
And while the Chief’s resolve to deal with insensitivity can be a consolation for the family, no kindness or consolation will make them forget the screams of terror as this very young man perished in the blaze.
Aside from the family's loss of 18-year-old Walter they also lost all their belongings which includes schoolbooks for Bernalda and her brother Michael. Anyone wishing to help the family can contact them at phone number 607-7061.