By Mari Saito
The Philadelphia Daily News
PHILADELPHIA — By neighborhood estimates, the Ermilio family has owned its two-story South Philadelphia rowhouse for 80 years, at least.
Yesterday, the home was blackened from smoke, its gaping windows covered in plywood, after a fire killed Robert Ermilio, 74, and his sister, Madeline Hart, 68.
On a block where ownership is defined in generations, not years, the loss of two longtime friends was palpable.
“These aren’t just your neighbors, they’re your family,” said Bob Jackson, who lives across the street. “That’s what South Philly is about. It’s a bond.”
The fire started in the early morning yesterday, and the cause was still under investigation. Hart died on the first floor of the home. Firefighters pulled Ermilio from the second story, but he died a short time later.
The home did not appear to have working smoke alarms, fire officials said.
Ermilio and Hart — the grandchildren of the original owners — were the third generation to live in their house on Warnock Street, a narrow byway sandwiched between 10th and 11th Streets.
Both had moved back to their childhood home about 10 years ago, living with their mother, who died about two years ago, neighbors said.
“They never got far from here,” said Bob Jackson’s mother, Doris. “Your idea of moving when you got married was to go around the corner.”
Robert Ermilio, known as “Sabu,” worked as a buyer for Wanamakers and as a bartender at neighborhood mainstays like the 9M Bar and Anthony’s.
He was friends with South Philly crooners Bobby Rydell and James Darren, and once had befriended Frank Sinatra, Bob Jackson said.
“These are all guys he grew up with. They were all friends,” he said. “Bobby was a character. . . . Very dry, very quiet. They were just good people.”
Another neighbor, Maria Legnini, emigrated to the U.S. in 1966 from the Abruzzi region of Italy - the same region from which the Ermilios hailed.
She said the family helped her navigate the city when her English was poor, and she left a house key with an Ermilio family aunt who also lived on the block.
“If you’re paisano, they try to help you,” Legnini said.
The area, just off Oregon Avenue, remains an Italian American stronghold. Bob Jackson said he was once “the only Irish kid on the block.”
Doris Jackson said she visited with Hart, who was in poor health, nearly every day. They would sit for about an hour and talk about the neighborhood.
Many decades-long residents remain, but new immigrant families have joined the mix in recent years.
Doris Jackson said the neighborhood had retained its closeness. She talked about how residents had helped one new family from the Middle East adjust to life there.
Hart, who had two grown children, suffered from osteoporosis and had lost her sight. She slept on the first floor, where the fire apparently started.
Ermilio, who had a grown son, had been caring for his sister.
Residents were alerted to the fire by the sound of breaking glass. By the time many reacted, the windows of the house had blown out and flames were shooting halfway into the street.
“The whole place was engulfed in minutes,” Bob Jackson said. “It was an inferno.”
Several neighbors tried breaking down the front door until police arrived. It took three officers to crash through, Jackson said.
Firefighters were on the scene quickly and doused the blaze, which caused smoke damage to homes on either side, in about 20 minutes.
“By then, it was too late,” Jackson said. “It was horrible.”
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