HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Erwin Mariano, 51, was looking for a place to rest his head when he decided to seek refuge in an abandoned building on the Hagåtña pool premises. The building became engulfed in flames Saturday afternoon. Mariano, a homeless man, told The Guam Daily Post he almost didn’t make it out of the fire.
It was about 12:30 in the afternoon when Mariano entered the abandoned building where, he said, two other homeless individuals stayed.
“I was sleeping…I woke up about 1 in the afternoon. I just came here Saturday. I saw a bed and I haven’t slept on a bed in a long time,” Mariano said.
Mariano is disabled and uses a wheelchair to get around, as it’s difficult for him to walk. He was looking for a place to escape the afternoon heat when he peered into the abandoned building and saw a bed.
“It looked comfortable and I just wanted to lay down because I was tired. When I laid down on it it felt so comfortable,” he said.
He said he fell asleep for about 30 minutes before he felt the heat of the flames. He said it was the first time he had sought shelter in the abandoned building.
According to the Guam Fire Department, the cause of the fire remains unknown, but department officials said witnesses present at the time of the fire indicated it originated from underneath the wooden platform of the building.
“I was thinking I have to get out,” Mariano said. “A girl helped me get out.”
He said he didn’t know how the fire started, but recalled his surprise and fear in the moments he first saw the fire and the abandoned building filled with smoke.
“It was hot, the flames were about 5 feet away from me. I was sleeping in the far right side in the middle,” he said.
It took him about five minutes to get out of the building, with the help of a homeless woman.
“The fire was really touching the roof already. If I went to the floor, I wouldn’t have made it out,” he said.
Within minutes the abandoned building was engulfed in flames. Now all that remains is a shell of the structure, with charred and soot-covered debris littering the inside of the building.
Mariano spent much of Sunday under the shelter outside the Hagåtña pool, a place frequented by homeless individuals since the pool’s closure.
Department of Parks and Recreation Director Roque Alcantra noted some of the island’s homeless lived in the abandoned building, which he called an issue. He said department personnel check the building occasionally and have chased homeless people out of the premises. However, he said, they keep coming back.
While the building will be condemned, Mariano said for people such as he, entering abandoned building was a necessity and not a want.
“I am disabled and nobody really cares about me. I have been living on the streets for about two months. It’s really very difficult,” Mariano said. “Because there’s hardly any places to stay.”
Mariano admitted that he has not tried to seek help from homeless shelters, indicating that getting around is difficult. Now that the abandoned building is nearly destroyed, he said he would seek shelter at the Plaza de España, another area frequented by the homeless population.
No injuries were reported.
Erwin Mariano, 51, a homeless man, recounted the events that transpired Saturday when he awoke to flames five feet away from him. He had sought shelter in an abandoned building at the Hagåtña pool which was engulfed in fire on July 30, 2022.
