The mother of two toddler boys who were critically injured in a Washington Heights fire has been arrested on child endangerment charges, police said Friday.
Skilyn Maldonado, 23, was arrested late Thursday after police determined she wasn’t home when the fire broke out inside her fifth-floor apartment on Audubon Ave. near W. 175th St., cops said.
Her two children, a 2-year-old boy and his 1-year-old brother were critically injured in the blaze, authorities said Thursday.
Neighbors rescued the tots from the apartment shortly before 11 p.m. Wednesday.
“My mom and I were trying to see if we can bring out the kids, but the couch was on fire,” neighbor Jayden Zorilla, 14, told the Daily News Thursday. “When I entered, the window glass broke, and there was blazing fire.”
Jayden said an 8-year-old girl, the older sister of the two boys, came to her apartment and started banging on the door.
“She was saying there is a fire in her apartment,” the teen recounted.
Jayden’s mother Yucania Germosen, 40, said an older sister was trying to save her siblings, but the fire was already reaching the ceiling.
“They were crying out loud,” she said.
Germosen then wrapped the little girl who’d knocked in a blanket and asked her 10-year-old son Justin Zorilla to take her downstairs.
Cops charged Maldonado with three counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
Her arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court was pending Friday.
