Some noticed a pretty big fire yesterday evening at an Uptown apartment building. The NOFD took care of the blaze but not before massive damage occurred to the large three story structure. Fortunately, all of the tenants evacuated and no one was hurt, although one tenant with heart trouble had to be taken to the hospital. This is a twelve unit building, and the tenants are primarily low wage workers without much in terms of a support structure, savings or renter's insurance. Most of them lost the majority of their belongings, either from the fire, smoke or water. All are currently homeless. The Red Cross was on the scene quickly and provided relief, but that will run out very soon, and everyone is trying to find other accomodations. The landlord is pretty stressed out about the situation, too.
Here's the kicker: by all accounts, this was a case of arson. A tenant broke up with her boyfriend a couple days ago. The disgruntled ex (who still had a key) went up to her empty apartment and apparently set a fire on the bed, then he rushed out and left the building. The tenant returned from work around 4:30pm to see smoke coming from her apartment door, opened it (*cringe*) and huge rolls of smoke billowed out. A couple other tenants from the second and first floors noticed the blaze and bravely ran back up to the 3rd floor to evacuate the other tenants up there (some of which had special health needs). Fire extinguishers were emptied into the blaze, but it had grown too big to quell, and everyone got out to wait on the NOFD's arrival. This could have been extremely tragic, as a single mom with two infants lived in the unit next to where the fire was set. Thank goodness the family was elsewhere that afternoon. I believe the alleged arsonist is still at large, but am confident he'll be arrested soon. What a sick, evil thing to do.
I haven't ever asked for donations or done paid advertising at YRHT, but I'm thinking about setting up a quick paypal fund to be split among the homeless tenants, to help them get back on their feet. Would you be inclined to support such an endeavor?
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Update: There was a photo of the fire on the front page of the T-P Metro section. I'll add that NOFD has not completed its investigation, so no official determination of the cause of the fire has been made. However, the information above comes from several witnesses, whose stories all match without contradiction. And when a determination of arson is made, as I expect, I'm absolutely committed to doing everything I can to ensure justice is served against the guilty party.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Uptown fire
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13 Comments:
That's terrible. Yes to Pay Pal if that's what you decide.
Yes Oyster, I'll definitely support this with a cash donation. Thanks for caring enough to actually do something to help.
By 
, at
1:41 PM
Thank you for writing about this. We saw fire trucks and ambulances on the streets yesterday afternoon; I'm assuming that it was for this event. Looking forward to seeing what you are able to set up.
By 
Cold Spaghetti, at
1:43 PM
Yes to Paypal. I'll give what I can.
Yes to Paypal
I sixth the PayPal fund. This is just awful.
Yes to paypal I am glad to hear that there were no deaths and no real injuries. I hope that people can get their hands on this coward andd slowly flay his flesh with a rusty prison spoon; then break his pelvis so he remembers his actions for the rest of his life.
By , at
4:00 PM
Another yes to paypal.
By , at
4:08 PM
Yes to PayPal. Please post when it's operational.
By , at
5:03 PM
paypal , yes.
By GENTILLY YARD ART, at
11:21 PM
I'll contribute what I can.
Count me in.
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