Newsday

As workers cleared pieces of the building from the sidewalk, building owner Elvis Bisono recounted how he tried to extinguish the blaze that engulfed two stories.

"When I heard the kid died, it broke my heart. I probably would've gone inside" to try to save him, Bisono said. "We did open the door, but the flame was too hot."

Bisono said he was halfway down the block when he saw flames coming out of the first-floor window. He ran to the pizzeria on the corner and grabbed a fire extinguisher.

"I tried to stop the fire, but I couldn't," he said. "I thought I stopped it for a second, but the flame was too strong."

Flames began coming out of the window again, going up the side of the building, and "then it just blew up," Bisono said.

A fire department spokesman said that Jason Guallpa had started the fire, but no other details were available. An autopsy Friday revealed that the boy died from smoke inhalation. Firefighters found him between a wall and a television, covered in debris.

Diego Guallpa, 24, who was baby-sitting his brother Jason but had left him alone in the apartment, was charged Thursday with endangering the welfare of a child and released from police custody Friday.

Friday, friends helped the brothers' mother, Elvia, sort through the apartment and salvage some belongings.

Walter, a family friend who didn't want to give his last name, watched as his wife taped a photo of Jason to a tree near the front door of the residence, where flowers, a stuffed Barney dinosaur and candles in a blackened drawer were also left.

Walter said his two boys, ages 5 and 6, were deeply affected by Jason's death. "It was hard for them to sleep. One of them said, 'I dreamed Jason was asking for help by the window.'"

After piling suitcases and garbage bags with their belongings on the sidewalk, the Guallpas' next-door neighbors, Manuel and Juno Romero, gazed sadly at the memorial.

"It's a tragedy. They're a hardworking mother and father," said landlord Eddie Lugo, who said damage to the building was estimated at around $600,000. "I don't think the brother should be penalized because it was an accident."