Community members held a vigil Saturday in honor of a mother and daughter who died in a North Philadelphia house fire.
Eliezer Gonzalez identified the woman who died as his girlfriend, Frances Colon. Colon’s 6-year-old daughter was also killed while her 8-year-old son was badly injured, Gonzalez said.
“He’s still alive, but he’s fighting,” Gonzalez told reporters Saturday. “I can’t even think. I can’t even sleep. I think about them everyday.”
The past days have been painful for the North Philadelphia community, especially those who know the family impacted. The fire happened in the early morning hours of Friday, March 14 at the family’s home on the 3000 block of North 4th Street as they sleeping.
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Gonzalez’s mother Adrian Marie recalled the harrowing efforts to get everyone out of the home.
“I was trying to get out. He was trying to get out, but he was trying to save them [children]. I had to go in and take him out, because he was already almost without breathing. It was too much, we couldn’t,” she recalled. “He was trying to save them, but we couldn’t. I called the neighbors, ‘Please, help. Everybody please help. I need help, my house is getting on fire.’”
Some of those same neighbors have answered the call for help in the fire aftermath, providing some clothes for the family and supporting them during their time of grief.
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“They were all good people. My kids, my girl. My kids, they were going to grow up…they were going to help the homeless. My kids said that,” Gonzalez said.
The vigil Saturday drew several dozen to the neighborhood. Naserica Trinidad moved to the area a year ago and described Colon as friendly and welcoming.
Trinidad helped organize the vigil, along with Colon’s close friend.
“It’s important because people might feel lonely during this time, and we are the community. We are supposed to be there for each other. No one other than us will be there and know what we are going through. It’s painful for all of us,” she said.
Darrin Ferrell with the Fletcher Street Urban Riding Club said he’s known Gonzalez for years, adding the family has been a part of the riding club.
“Frances was his rock. She was his everything. He loved her so much,” Ferrell said. “We miss them. We love them. We just…I can’t put it into words how this has messed everyone up. We are so heartbroken.”
As of this writing, the Fire Marshal’s Office has not determined the cause of the fire.
