By Terry Karkos,Staff Writer

MEXICO – Wearing a pink jumper smudged with soot from the previous night’s fire, 3-year-old victim Willow Ollis pawed through a large box of donated Christmas toys on Tuesday afternoon at the fire station.

The child overcame her shyness after a firefighter picked her up and put her inside the gift-paper-wrapped giant box of fun, which was donated to the department by Motor Supply Co. of Mexico, Chief Gary Wentzell said Tuesday morning.

Monday night, fire destroyed Willow’s parents’ apartment on the second and third floors of a three-story building at 25 Middle Ave.

“They lost everything,” Wentzell said of Willow, her 8-month-old brother, Aiden, and their parents, Nathaniel and Callie Ollis.

According to State Fire Marshal investigator Chris Stanford, Willow had accidentally knocked over a lighted candle in the living room, then tried unsuccessfully to put the spreading fire out after her parents went upstairs to put her brother to bed.

The down-on-their-luck family, which had no renters’ insurance, had just moved from Auburn to Mexico last month to escape crime and find work, Callie Ollis said.

Both parents are unemployed, and their only car is in a garage for repairs.

“We’ve been having a really bad year,” she said.

“We haven’t been able to find steady work, and we’ve been robbed three times in the past year in Auburn. That’s why we moved from Auburn, to get away from that crap,” Ollis said.

Auburn Deputy Police Chief Phil Crowell said there was no record of the Ollises reporting thefts when they lived there. It’s possible they had been victims and didn’t call police, he said.

Shivering on Tuesday, Callie Ollis was still wearing the clothes she had on when the fire started – an old Grand Canyon Arizona T-shirt over sooty orange thermals, and white sneakers that a woman gave her Monday night after noticing she was shoeless.

“That woman was nice enough to give me her shoes, and another guy gave us some bottles for the baby, who was screaming. People are so nice up here. I can’t believe how nice they are,” Ollis said.

She also profusely thanked firefighters gathered at the station, saying, “You guys are awesome!”

Wentzell said the fire destroyed the family’s Christmas presents and real Christmas tree. It even consumed presents hidden in a closet.

“This isn’t a good time of the year for this stuff,” he said of the fire.

To help, the Mexico Fire Department Relief Association gave Callie Ollis, 21, a check for $100 and had one ready for first-floor tenant Matt Montgomery, who also lost everything. It was not known Tuesday afternoon where Montgomery was staying or if he had renters’ insurance. Only two of the building’s four apartments were occupied. None of the fire victims was injured.

Some donations for the victims came in Tuesday morning. These included two televisions, bags of clothing, a child’s backpack and a board game.

Wentzell said the victims could also use money or checks, which could be dropped off at the Mexico Fire Station.

In a press release Tuesday afternoon, Red Cross chapter Executive Director Douglas Hoyt said the agency is assisting the Ollis family by “providing the basic needs of temporary lodging, food and clothing.”

Callie Ollis said her family spent Tuesday night with her mother, Bonnie Lee, in Paris, but would be staying at a motel for the next three nights, courtesy of the Red Cross.

Ollis’ father, Glenn Stoodley of Sabattus, helped firefighters load the donations into the back of his pickup truck while his daughter secured Willow in the truck.

“I’m so glad that they’re all well,” Stoodley said. “All of the items they lost can be replaced, but she couldn’t be, nor could her family.”