toledoblade.com --

Guadalupe Ramos, a single mother, experienced the deaths of her son and her younger brother in a car crash six weeks ago.

Friday she and her two surviving children, ages 6 and 7, were homeless after their home was damaged by a fire that started in a vacant home next door. The home was slated for demolition for more than a year.

"I am still in shock," said Ms. Ramos, 29. "All I can think of now is that we need help."

With tears streaming, the unemployed woman added: "Had they demolished [that home], this would not have happened."

Megan Robson, spokesman for Mayor Carty Finkbeiner, said the vacant house at 1120 East Central Ave. had been on the demolition list since October, 2008.

"This was a block grant-funded, qualified home for demolition. But due to a reduction in funding, we were not able to demolish as many houses as we had in previous years," she said.

The Lucas County Auditor's Web site lists the owner of the vacant house as Juan Carlos Alvarez. It was a 1 1/2-story, wood frame duplex built in 1902.

The back of Ms. Ramos' house at 1122 East Central was damaged by the fire and the home's roof was heavily damaged.

Ms. Ramos' 13-year-old son, Jose Renteria, and her brother, Leonel Ramos, 20, were killed in a two-vehicle crash Sept. 30 on northbound I-75 in Toledo.

Her two surviving children - daughter, Leslie Ramos, 6, and Jaime Ramos, 7 - went to school yesterday after a sleepless night, she said.

The fire was reported at
1:58 a.m. Firefighters arrived and found the vacant house engulfed in flames, by which time Ms. Ramos, her two children, and their father, Jaime Robles, 30, had escaped unhurt, according to firefighters.

It was under control by 2:48 a.m., but not before the vacant house collapsed and the fire damaged the back of Ms. Ramos' house, according to the fire report.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Damage from the fire was estimated at $25,000.

Ms. Ramos said the intensive heat in their home woke the couple. They dialed 911 and screamed for the children to wake up.

Still emotional yesterday afternoon, Ms. Ramos said she remembered thinking of her deceased son as she raced to get her two surviving children from the home.

"I was [scared] for my kids, getting out of the house, holding them, before we got burned or something," she said.

This was the second fire at the vacant house at 1120 East Central in just over a year.

Arson caused $1,000 damage to the house on Oct. 27, 2008, according to fire department records.

Mr. Alvarez, the owner of the vacant house, was found guilty in 2003 of a third-degree misdemeanor after he failed to comply with an order to remove debris and litter and board and secure the property, according to Toledo Municipal Court records.

Neighbor Pascual Hernandez, 30, said the home had been the subject of complaints to the city for the last three years.

Right now, though, Mr. Hernandez is focused on trying to help his neighbors get through their latest loss.

Noting the terrible experience the family has weathered, he said he and his father are hoping to at least help with getting the family's home repaired.

"We will try and get material for them to get their roof going back up," Mr. Hernandez said.

Contact Mike Sigov at:
sigov@theblade.com
or 419-724-6089.

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