Makeshift memorial pays homage to fire victims
A giant makeshift memorial has risen at 5601 Denwood Avenue in Northeast Baltimore as friends and neighbors leave an assortment of items to mark the travesty that took place when five family members including a grandmother and four children perished in an early morning fire almost a week ago.
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- Stooping by on her way home from work, Cinder Littlejohn looks at a memorial at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue where five people perished including 4 children. When city firefighters arrived, shortly after the first alarm and just after 2 a.m., heavy fire and smoke were coming from the first floor at 5601 Denwood Ave. and quickly extended to the second floor and attic.
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- Toy cars are parked together at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. The blaze killed a grandmother and four children. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Stuffed animals stand guard on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Thoughts of hope and prayer, apparently written by children, rest on display with mylar balloons, stuffed animals and family photos on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Thoughts of hope and prayer, apparently written by children, rest on display with mylar balloons, stuffed animals and family photos on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Toy cars sit together, below mylar balloons, stuffed animals and family photos on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Mylar balloons drift in the breeze, guarding the entrance along with stuffed animals and family photos on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. Harriett Williams, who lives about two blocks away, said the flames were so high, she thought an entire street was on fire. Sandra Royster ran from her home on Aberdeen Avenue and cut through yards, only to hear a young man shouting, “My grandmother is still in there and there are more babies.”(Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Cinder Littlejohn stands among the stuffed animals, mylar balloons and family photos that decorate the charred shell of a townhouse, the scene of what remains of a fatal fire on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- A banner, adorned with paper angel’s wings and written with thoughts of children, rests on the chain link fence at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. Family members apparently were spread among the three bedrooms on the second floor, with many of the children in a rear room. The fire started in the rowhouse’s basement, and spread upward, fire officials said. City Fire Chief James S. Clack said interviews with family members who escaped the fire and an initial investigation indicated the home had no working smoke detectors.(Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- A banner, adorned with paper angel’s wings and written with thoughts of children, rests on the chain link fence at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Family photos are part of the display of affection along with toys and thoughts on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Family photos are part of the display of affection along with toys and thoughts on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun) [
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- Family photos are part of the display of affection along with toys and thoughts on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Family photos are part of the display of affection along with toys and thoughts on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun) [
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- Family photos are part of the display of affection along with toys and thoughts on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. The blaze killed a grandmother and four children. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Thoughts of hope and prayer, apparently written by children, rest on display with mylar balloons, stuffed animals and family photos on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
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- Family photos are part of the display of affection along with toys and thoughts on the front porch at the site of a fatal fire at a townhome on Denwood Avenue. The blaze killed a grandmother and four children. (Karl Merton Ferron/Baltimore Sun)
Mourners memorialize fire victims
Grandmother and four children to be laid to rest Thursday
By Mary Gail Hare, The Baltimore Sun
9:57 a.m. EDT, October 18, 2012
A little more than a week ago, little children were playing in the yard of their Northeast Baltimore home. Neighbors of the Denwood Avenue residence recalled how the kids were always happy, friendly and smiling.
Now their bikes and toys lie in a charred heap at the side of the concrete front porch and the yard is filled with debris from a deadly fire that claimed the lives of four children and the woman the entire Worrell family called Mama.
The family will pay final tribute Thursday to Nancy Worrell, 55, the woman at the heart of a sprawling brood that included her husband of 27 years and 14 offspring. She died Oct. 11 along with three grandchildren and a great-grandson in the 2 a.m. blaze that destroyed the two-story rowhouse. The victims were all found in the back bedroom on the second floor of the home.
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