"I told John to get a pot of water and he came back with a glass of water, and then everything started burning and I got the baby and yelled to the other kids and we out."
Nine-year-old Mary Esther Herrera saved her five brothers and sisters, among them eight-month-old Dolores Rose Herrera, from a fire that swept through the family's home at 355 Myrtle St. today. The mother, Mrs. Mary Herrera, said she left the children home alone for a few minutes while she walked to a nearby welfare office. She said a neighbor telephoned her "and I came running home."
She found the children in the street, two of them shoeless, and firemen trying to keep flames from destroying an adjacent house at 351 Myrtle. Mary Esther said her brother, John Paul, 7, set the fire playing with matches. John admitted it to his mother. "He set fire to the davenport to see if it would burn," Mary Esther said. She shook her head. "I told him to get a pot of water and he came back with a glass of water . . . after I got the other kids out, I went in the kitchen and found him filling a pot with glasses of water and I told him. 'Come on!' and we ran out." She carried the baby and led out Ronald, 6. Andy, 5, and Pearl Marie, 4. She went back for John Paul. "Let's get out of here before we burn up," she told him. "The policemen saved the kittens." Mary Esther said, pointing to "Peachie," held by John Paul and "Lonely," cuddled by Pearl Marie.
Oakland Tribune, Tuesday, November 7, 1961
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