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newyork

Natalie Hernandez

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Tenants who lost everything when their Wallace Avenue building went up in flames packed into a town hall meeting to find out how the city plans to help them. But as News Twelve's Natalie Hernandez explains, many left with more questions than answers. It's been 2 weeks since that 5 alarm fire on Wallace Avenue, and as families try to rebuild their lives, they're struggling for answers on where to even start. Do you know what it is to walk out the building with your not even the building, the apartment, and your kids with you and all the fire just come down by you? Drea Guzman lost everything after the fire started in her sixth floor apartment. Now her and her 4 children are living second by second, not knowing where they'll stay after January 31st. This is the only place my kids have known. I have 4 kids and on the 31st to now. They don't know what they're gonna do with the family because there's no shelter available for us. So where are we gonna go? Guzman says the trauma from the fire will linger for years to come. But my daughter asked me, a six year old, Mommy, how do I pray? Because I want to pray. There's only so much they could do for us. Advocates like Irene Estrada, who lived in the building for years before the fire, say they just want relief for tenants. It's a very sad situation because this can happen to anybody in the 5 boroughs, and it's gonna continue to happen and that's where the increase of home. This begins. Residents tell me although a town hall was held today, they're left with more questions than answers. They just want long term solutions so they can heal after losing everything from Pelham Parkway, Natalie Hernandez, News 12, the Bronx.

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Today is the last day for hundreds of tenants to collect their personal belongings after a 5 alarm fire destroyed their apartment building earlier this month. News12's Tim Harman is on Wallace Avenue with the very latest. Years of memories now sitting on the sidewalk as tenants spend their rainy, dreary Saturday going back into their apartments one last time, salvaging whatever's left. A 5 alarm fire ripped through this six-story apartment building on Wallace Avenue back on January 10th. The FDNY says flames broke out before 2 a.m. between the ceiling of the top floor and the roof, displacing hundreds of tenants. Tenants tell us they're allowed back today only for about 20 minutes each to get personal items out of their apartments. It's surreal because you know you live there and you make your life there and stuff like that and you make memories there. And uh then you see the walls, you see the ceilingscaping in and you know it's it's uh it's kind of like almost like seeing the Titanic. An advocate tells News 12 many tenants are staying in hotels thanks to temporary housing through the Red Cross and the organizations extending their stay through January 31st, depending on a family situation. As for the cause of the fire, it's still under investigation in Allerton, Tim Hartman, News 12, the Bronx.

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Relief efforts do continue as those tenants try to figure out their next steps, and News 2's Heather Fordham is outside of PS 76, which is serving as a reception center for those who are displaced. Heather. Amanda, PS 76 is now closed for the night, but they will be open again tomorrow morning to continue helping those tenants who are now homeless. 262 of them, to be exact. That's how many the Red Cross registered today during their efforts. They are now mostly staying in staying in hotels tonight as the days to come remain uncertain. I don't know what to really say, you know, I don't. It's not funny. I'm not laughing because if I don't smile, I just want to cry. I never would imagine that I would lose everything. For the first time in 25 years, Yolanda Richardson can't go home. You know, I wanted to see because when we left it was still dark and everything was ablaze and I came back and I just broke down. She fell asleep on her couch Thursday night to be woken up by this. Her apartment on the 6th floor of 2910 Wallace Avenue is a total loss. It's all my photos. All the photos of the kids when they were little, when I was little, they're all gone, you know, and those are cherished memories. The pain felt throughout the neighborhood as people who used to live in the building came to see their memories charred. Because my heart is broken. Our kids were the mini Olympics. They ran in the streets. We did parties, Christmas parties. The ventures we did so many things with the police department and the fire department, and now they're here to serve us, serve us to see our building to be condemned. The reality still raw for Richardson. I'm still grateful because at the end of the day what I have is, sorry, my life, my children's life, and the material things can be replaced. Richardson is staying with her daughter in the area. As for those who don't have family or friends to stay with, the American Red Cross is urging you to come back to PS 76 tomorrow. They'll be here starting at 10 a.m. to help you with emergency housing assistance and anything. You may need as for the building, the Department of Buildings has issued a full vacate order and has ordered the landlord to put up scaffolding. So no word on if tenants will ever be able to go back inside. Reporting in Allerton, Heather Fordham, News 12, the Bronx.

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Justice for Families, a community organization, distributed clothing, toiletries and other essential items to dozens of people impacted by the fire.


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Essential item distribution held for Allerton fire victims

Justice for Families, a community organization, distributed clothing, toiletries and other essential items to dozens of people impacted by the fire.

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