By Jeff Lipton
Donna DeRosalia was staring down at a fireball heading right toward her as she peered out her door on West Broadway in Inwood last week.
DeRosalia was keeping an eye on a small fire that started in a screened-in back porch and was on the telephone talking with the fire department when the flames developed into a big, orange ball and shot directly at her.
"It started out small, and all of a sudden I heard a whoosh and a big flaming ball came flying at me and I screamed on the phone, 'Get the fire trucks over here now,'" said DeRosalia, who lives on the main floor of 220 West Broadway, near Doughty Boulevard and Burnside Avenue. "Inches more and I'd be a crispy critter.
"The flames came up my back door, which was partially open. I bent down to close the door or this thing would have come flying in. Then I got everyone out, my neighbors, and we grabbed the animals. It charred the whole back of my house," she said.
DeRosalia said she quickly shut the door and helped evacuate the building, which seven people and five dogs and cats occupied. No one was reported injured.
The fire began at about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 27, when DeRosalia was home with her son and fianc
