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by LORENA MONGELLI
A 5-year-old boy who died after a blaze ripped through his Queens apartment was "playing with fire," officials said yesterday.
FDNY spokesman Jim Long said the fire that killed little Jason Guallpa on Thursday was "accidental."
But investigators are still trying to piece together whether the boy was playing with matches or tinkering with the oven burners minutes before he was killed in the fire.
Jason's 24-year-old brother, Diego, was supposed to be babysitting.
Instead, he locked his brother inside the apartment and went to file his taxes.
Diego Guallpa was arrested and given a desk-appearance ticket for child endangerment.
Long said there were smoke alarms in the apartment, but it is not known whether they were working.
Jason's mother, Elvia Guallpa, an Ecuadorian immigrant who worked as a housekeeper, was too distraught to talk yesterday.
"She's devastated. I can't imagine what she's going through," said Elvia Guazhco, the boy's aunt. "She lost her littlest one."
Firefighters found Jason curled up between a wall and a TV, covered in debris.
The fire began in the kitchen and quickly spread throughout the apartment.
"I don't believe he was playing with fire. If he was, he would have been burnt," Guazhco said.
She said the boy's brother was not talking.
"He's in shock," Guazhco said.
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