Two People Die In Philadelphia Row House Fire; Teen Escapes

As fire blazed through Aleah Martin's Strawberry Mansion home early this morning, neighbors screamed for the 15-year-old to jump. But she seemed frozen with fear, they said, as she leaned out the window.

Then, they said, it seemed like she fell - and some believe Martin's grandmother, who died in the fire, pushed her to safety.

It would have been just like the elder Martin, they said.

"She did everything for everybody," Norman Harrell said of his mother-in-law, Louise Martin. "Everybody used to call her 'Mom.' "

Martin, 79, and her son, Alphonso Martin, 51, died in the one-alarm blaze at their home in the 2500 block of North Myrtlewood Street. Aleah was in satisfactory condition at Temple University Hospital after the 3:40 a.m. fire, family members said.

Both Martins died from smoke and soot inhalation, a spokesman for the Philadephia Medical Examiner's Office said. They were the city's 20th and 21st fire fatalities this year, compared to 16 fire fatalities at this point in 2004.

The fire marshal determined that the fire, which began in the rowhouse's first-floor kitchen, was ignited by a faulty electrical appliance. A working fire alarm was in the home.

Neighbors stared at what remained of the Martins' house today. All four front windows were broken, providing a clear view through the house to the backyard beyond. Someone had placed a 2 1/2-foot-tall stuffed tiger in pristine condition on the front steps, near the blacked mattresses and record albums stacked on the sidewalk.

Neighbor Gail Davis said her husband, Ralph, woke up when smoke started to fill their bedroom. She heard glass breaking and people screaming. The Davises grabbed their two daughters and three grandchildren and ran outside in their night clothes.

"I saw the granddaughter," Davis said, her eyes filling with tears. "We were screaming and hollering, 'Drop! Jump!' and she finally seemed to fall."

"I was crying, 'Is Miss Louise out? Is Miss Louise out?'... I can't get it off my mind, somebody dying and I couldn't help her."

Neighbors dragged Aleah down the block, away from the fire, Davis said. At first, Aleah was still and then seemed to regain consciousness, Davis said.

Harrell, Louise Martin's son-in-law, is an assistant to a chief in the Philadephia Fire Department; he and his wife live two houses down from his mother-in-law. He was at work when a coworker told him of a fire on his block.

"And I heard the address and I knew who it was," Harrell said. "I've seen a lot of devastation, but you never know how it feels until it happens to you."

Alphonso Martin, he said, was "a big, gentle bear."

Louise Martin had lived on the block for about 40 years. She was always in the thick of neighborhood gatherings, offering food and keeping an eye on the children. Every summer, she sold water ice on the sidewalk in front of her home.

"She watched me grow up. She watched all of us around here grow up," said Pele Lewis, 29. "I'm hearing she pushed her granddaughter out. That's her. She gave love to people who gave love to her."