Find out what's happening in Secaucuswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Martin’s mom, Carolina Rigueros, was at her job, driving for Uber. She, Martin and her oldest son, 21, rented the second-floor apartment on the 200 block of Maple Street.

She said she had to leave for work that Friday, but Martin’s older brother was headed home, returning from his job in Union City. He was going to watch Martin.

‘The first day of summer is very difficult for parents. I am a single mother; it’s very hard.”

The fire started at about 11:50 a.m.

“I woke up and I laid in bed for a little bit,” said Martin. “Then I got up and went into the living room and sat down on the couch and watched YouTube on my iPad. I smelled something really weird. I did not know what it was, so I opened the front door so the smell could get out. Then I started seeing a lot, a lot of smoke in the kitchen. I went there and I checked and I see fire behind the microwave.”

Martin said he FaceTimed his mother.

“I called my mom and told her the house is burning.”

“It was horrible,” said his mother. “I am driving the car and I see my son and all these flames in my kitchen.”

Martin said his mother “was crying and panicked” and told him to get out of the house right away.

Martin took the family dog, a 5-year-old mixed breed named Milo, and walked down the stairs. But he did not leave the home without first knocking on the downstairs door of the neighbors, an older couple who had no idea the second floor was on fire.

“I told them the house was on fire and to get out,” he said.

On the sidewalk, a crowd had gathered, and several people called 911 and Secaucus volunteer firefighters.

Martin said he “was not scared at all. I did what they teach me in school. At Huber Street School, they teach me a lot of math, writing essays, grammar and also safety. We have ReadWorks in ELA (English/Language Arts) on our Chromebooks, and there was one ReadWorks on how to get out of the house if there is a fire.”

Girl, 6, died in a house fire in Bayonne Sunday night

It is a story that very easily could have ended in tragedy: This past Sunday night, a 6-year-old girl in Bayonne died when a fire broke out in the apartment she and her family lived in on Avenue C.

The fire started at 11:40 p.m. and heavy fire and smoke quickly consumed the two-story building, said Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez.

Firefighters were told a person was trapped on the second floor, but the stairs had already collapsed. Firefighters had to get onto the second floor through windows, and that’s where they found the body of Saniya Felton, 6.

Family homeless until July 19

Martin’s mother, Rigueros, said they suspect the fire was caused by a bird’s nest that was behind their stove and microwave area. She said the landlord put glue down to seal up the bird’s nest, and block off birds’ access to it, and she thinks the glue he used is flammable. She suspects the hot sun that day ignited the silicone glue.

The second floor of the home was destroyed and deemed uninhabitable; Rigueros shared those photos above that show the damage.

Mayor Mike Gonnelli and the Secaucus Emergency Fund paid for a hotel room for the mother and her two sons, however the town could only afford to pay through Tuesday night, July 2.

People donated to this GoFundMe, and Rigueros said she used that money to put down a deposit and first month’s rent on a new apartment, this time on Fifth Street near Clarendon Street School. The town of Secaucus social services department, specifically Lisa Snedeker, helped her apply for that apartment.

However, she cannot move in there until July 19. Rigueros said she and her sons may stay with her cousin this weekend, but for the next two weeks they are homeless.

Click Here: France football tracksuit

“We came to this country two years from Colombia, to start a better life,” she said. “We had a visa when we came, and we have Social Security numbers and we’ve started the immigration process to become citizens. When we arrived two years ago, we had savings. But we lost everything in the fire — the mattresses, computers, the kitchen literally disappeared. We need to start from zero and we don’t have any money right now. It’s crazy to lead this type of life and many people are helping us, but we do need help.”

In addition to helping the family with a hotel room and find housing, the town of Secaucus also gave Martin a backpack filled with toys and a new Nintendo Switch, as his was destroyed in the fire.

How to help: https://www.gofundme.com/f/hel…

Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.