Red Cross Helps Two Manhattan Residents after 3-Alarm Blaze

Alexis Schroeder

By Elaine Biller, Greater NY Volunteer  

On Sept. 17, 2014 a massive 3-alarm fire raged through a Second Avenue apartment building in Midtown Manhattan. More than 140 firefighters were on hand to quench the blaze. Five Red Cross workers responded to help those affected, including Alexis Schroeder and her roommate.

For Alexis, this was just one more complication in an already complicated life.

She and her roommate, a friend from high school, had moved into their Midtown Manhattan apartment just four weeks earlier. Soon after the move, Alexis was struck by a taxi while jogging after work.

Since then, she’d been on leave from her job, juggling doctor’s appointments to treat a bulging disc in her back. As her pain subsided Alexis was looking forward to returning to her work in marketing in mid-October. 

The day of the fire, Alexis was walking home from her bank after clearing up some suspicious activity on a credit card. When she got to her street, she smelled smoke, then saw it billowing from her apartment window. Gripped by fear, Alexis relaxed only when she saw firefighters pull her roommate to safety through the dense black cloud.

The women watched as flames consumed their building. The fire left six apartments unlivable, with the top apartments severely damaged by smoke.

That evening a NYC firefighter and Red Cross volunteer Paul Allwright escorted Alexis and Colleen back to their apartment to retrieve anything they could salvage, especially documents and prescriptions.

Sadly, the apartment was unrecognizable. “There were no floors,” Alexis said. “My bedroom … everything was destroyed. My roommate's room was destroyed as well.”

The women were devastated by the sight and overwhelmed, not knowing where to begin. Paul guided them through those first few hours of shock and numbness.

“We weren't able to think about anything, about what to grab,” Alexis said. “I didn't have any money with me with my whole credit card situation. The Red Cross was there with things you don't even realize you need.”

Paul arranged temporary housing for the women for the days immediately after the fire and provided them with emergency funds for food, and so they could replace some clothing.  And he let them know the Red Cross would continue to be there for them in the days that followed; that they were not alone. He explained that Lilliam, their Red Cross caseworker, would continue to support them in numerous ways.

“Everyone's been really great,” Alexis said.

In the months since the fire, the women continue to rebuild their lives. For now they are staying with friends in the city on weekdays and with their families in New Jersey on weekends.

“The Red Cross generously helped us out,” Alexis said. “We really didn't know what type of help was provided by the Red Cross. We couldn't say nicer things about it.”

Manhattan Family Helped by Red Cross after Fire

After discovering flames shooting from a compactor room next to their lower Manhattan apartment on a Sunday night, Nellie Quiles and her parents fled down four flights of stairs. Once safely outside, they didn’t know what to do or where to go—until Nellie learned that they could receive help from the American Red Cross.

Quiles and her dad first took her mom, who is receiving home hospice care, to a hospital, where she received help. Daughter and father then returned to their apartment, to find it filled with mud and soot. The building manager showed Quiles a contact sheet left by the Red Cross. She called, and a Red Cross disaster responder was soon at their side.

“He checked the apartment out,” she said. “He gave us masks to wear because we couldn’t breathe. He brought cleaning supplies, which was so nice because you’re not thinking about things you’re going to need, like a sponge to clean stuff, because you don’t know what you have left. It was nice to have somebody come in and say, ‘We’re here. We’re gonna help you.’”  

The family received two nights of temporary housing from the Red Cross, as well as emotional support. “Someone listens to you and you get a good cry and get it off your shoulders,” Quiles said. “You don’t realize what a bed and taking a shower really means until you’re in the situation,” she added. “You feel like a human being again and that’s amazing.” 

Quiles was unaware that the Red Cross helped after home fires, even though the organization had been there for her family twice before. “After Sandy, the Red Cross came and checked on us and brought water,” she said. “And they helped us after 9/11.”

The family lives a few blocks from the World Trade Center. The day of the attacks, they left their apartment, returning that Friday.

“We came back and got the knock on the door from Red Cross,” Quiles remembered.

A Red Cross volunteer gave them water, a snack and a pamphlet with information about obtaining further assistance.

“That’s comforting,” Quiles said. “Especially in the city, people don’t really appreciate that there is a Red Cross you can go to. I think we think, ‘Oh, it just happens in other states.’ It’s not in Manhattan; it’s not in New York. And now I know that it is. And I’m very grateful for that.”

Bronx Woman Turns to Red Cross After Electrical Fire

Although Imeh Cuthbertson and her husband had had problems with the power in their Bronx apartment for some time (for example, if their bedroom light was on, their kitchen light was likely to be off, and vice versa), Imeh never expected those problems to escalate into a fire.

But in mid-December, that’s exactly what happened. Imeh, who emigrated from Liberia in 2004 and works nights as a security guard in Queens, and her husband, who came to the States from Nigeria somewhat earlier, went out to an early appointment at 6 am.

When they returned a few hours later, they received a shock: Their street was filled with people and police, and their apartment had been destroyed by an electrical fire.

“I couldn’t take anything out of my house. It was all burnt," she said. "All that I sweat for, all that I worked for!” She despaired, “How am I going to start life over again?”

Imeh had heard that the Red Cross helps people after fires. Yet when the Red Cross worker on the scene first approached her, Imeh was too upset to speak with her.

“The Red Cross lady came in, and she said, ‘How you doing, ma’am?’ She walked with me; she was so sweet, she was so kind, even though I was crying. She almost burst into tears, too. She said, ‘You relax; when you’re ready you come to me.'”

After a time, Imeh calmed down. She conferred with the responder, who provided her and her husband with emergency housing at a local motel, and a debit card with funds for emergency food and clothing. Imeh later came to Greater New York Red Cross regional headquarters in Manhattan, where a caseworker helped her with next steps.

“We never know what tomorrow has for us,” Imeh said. “Anything can happen. And if anything does, I think Red Cross is the best."

"The Red Cross … are like the family you had, but never knew about.”

Earlier this week, Rafael Cotto and his family lost their  home in the Bronx after a powerful fire spread from a nearby house.

While Rafael was in his bedroom on a late afternoon, he heard people yelling, “Get out, get out, there’s a fire!”

He looked out the window. “There were flames right in my face,” Rafael said. “I pulled the curtain back, ran to the hallway, and I yelled to the kids, ‘There’s a fire! Let’s get out of here!’”

After quickly returning to his room to retrieve a few items, Rafael walked out of the house with his daughter and son, 17 and 15. His daughter was draped in a towel; his son was in shorts and a tee shirt.

They stood on the street as firefighters started spraying the house. The source of the fire had been a house next to a grocery store. A second house succumbed as well, and Rafael’s next.

Rafael called his wife, Selene, at work, and she rushed home. The Red Cross was on the scene within 45 minutes, quickly wrapping people in warm blankets.

Selene said, “They also gave us warm drinks—tea and coffee. It was very nice. They did a very, very good job.”

The Red Cross provided the family with hotel accommodations as well.

Rafael and Selena admitted, “We didn’t know that the Red Cross responded to fires; it was our first time in this situation.”

When the couple visited Greater New York Red Cross headquarters, they were given a debit card with which to buy replacement clothes and food, along with an organized plan about what to do next after meeting with their caseworker.

“I feel better, I feel comfortable; I give my thanks to the Red Cross,” Selene said. “They are like the family you had, but never knew about.”

“The Red Cross was there to help me and I really appreciate it.”

By Dorothy He

For Kaydian Grennan of Far Rockaway, it was a typical morning at her uncle’s two-story house. She and her four young children were enjoying their usual routine of breakfast while watching TV. Without warning, the fire alarm went off, and thick smoke started billowing from the stairwell down into the kitchen.

Kaydian grabbed her kids and looked for an escape. She recalled, “I knew I wasn’t cooking. I smelled something burning, like rubber, and saw a dark, dark smoke. We just ran—we only had on pajamas.”

When the Grennan family had made it safely outside, they used a neighbor’s phone to dial 911. First responders came to put out the fire, which was caused by the air conditioning unit in the house. Unfortunately, the house was destroyed. 

Kaydian was worried. Her uncle and cousin were her only family. She thought, “What am I going to do? I have no clothes, nowhere to go.”

Then, within the hour, the Red Cross arrived on the scene. After speaking with Kaydian, they provided her and her family with a two-night stay at a local hotel and emergency funds for food and clothing.

Having been affected by Hurricane Sandy last year, with no light or power for weeks, Kaydian was especially distraught at the loss of her home. However, having the support of the Red Cross gave her extra reassurance.

Kaydian said, “You don’t know how [relieved] I felt when the Red Cross responder told me, ‘I will place you in a hotel,’ and gave me that card. “The Red Cross was there to help me and I really appreciate it,” Kaydian said. “My kids and I slept comfortably last night.”

“I appreciate everything Red Cross has done for us.”

By Dorothy He

Ronald Bethea of the Bronx awoke one morning to a dark apartment. Thinking his lights might not be working, he went to check on the breakers. That’s when he noticed a nightmarish heat coming from his son John Faison’s room—it was an electrical fire.

Ronald recalled, “I ran out of the apartment. Smoke was everywhere. It was black; I couldn’t even see my hand. I ran out the front door into the hallway. I’m thinking, ‘I’ve got to call somebody.’”

A neighbor saw Ronald and offered assistance, but didn’t have a phone. In a panic, Ronald ran back into his bedroom and snatched up his cell phone. After making it safely outside, he dialed 911 and waited for assistance. First responders arrived on the scene within 10 minutes, as did the Red Cross.

As EMS workers aided the wheezing Ronald, who suffers from asthma, Red Cross responders spoke to his family members who had rushed to the scene. Ronald called John, who works in the music industry, and thankfully was not home at the time of the fire.

The Red Crossers then talked with Ronald. He and John were offered temporary housing and access to emergency funds, but declined the housing, as they were able to stay with one of Ronald’s sisters.
 Nevertheless, a volunteer gave them contact information for the Red Cross.

When Ronald and John came to Red Cross headquarters in Manhattan, their first concern was housing.

Ronald worried, “We have no other place to go. We’re not homeless, but [at the same time], we are.” A Red Cross caseworker assisted the pair in their search with a referral to the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) and emergency funds to cover basic necessities.

“Words can’t say ... more. I appreciate everything Red Cross has done for us,” Ronald said. “They were on point from the time we walked through the door.”

The Red Cross was excellent, fantastic, awesome.

Deonca Dawkins’ first indication that something was wrong in her fourth floor Brooklyn apartment was when her bathroom light wouldn’t turn on. It was a weekday morning. She checked her kitchen and living room lights—they were out, too. She thought she smelled “someone baking.”

Moments later, Deonca heard firefighters pounding up the stairs. She opened her front door and saw smoke pouring out of the hallway light, as well as on the stairs leading to the roof. A firefighter raced into her apartment.

“He jumps on my bed and starts hacking down the room; all of a sudden you see this black smoke coming out,” Deonca said.

Deonca, a hairdresser who had lived in the apartment for nine years, grabbed her son, Desean, eight, and ran out and across the street. All they had with them were their phones and Desean’s ninja turtle toy.

“The smoke got blacker; across the street, you could smell it coming out. It’s starting to spread in the other apartments. Panic is setting in; we’re standing there, holding our heads,” she said.

Then, the Red Cross arrived.

“They had snacks and water, crackers, cookies,” Deonca said. “I was still in shock, but I’m glad the Red Cross was there, they made us feel more hopeful.”

Red Cross put the mother and son up in a hotel for two nights, and gave them MetroCards and a debit card with which to purchase food. Since the apartment was destroyed, they also gave Deonca information about the steps she needed to take to find long-term housing.

“Red Cross was excellent, fantastic, awesome,” Deonca said. “They were there in the time of need.”

Between my job and the Red Cross – it’s a family. A real family.

by Nadine Rose

Yamilka Alvarez and her family barely escaped from a five-alarm fire in the Bronx that destroyed their home. Alvarez lives with her mother, husband and two young daughters, ages 8 and 2. In the face of this tragedy, the family has found comfort and support with the American Red Cross.

The Alvarez family had lived in their second floor apartment for almost two years. The morning of the fire, they woke up in shock to heat and smoke. Thinking fast, Alvarez was able to grab some identification and a blanket for the baby, and quickly guided her mother and kids to safety. The father of the household met with Red Cross responders when they arrived on site.

Alvarez admitted, “It’s hard because when you see things happen on TV; you don’t think they are going to happen to you.”

Outside, Alvarez continued to feel anxious for her family, especially her mother, who suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure.

A Red Cross responder took charge, asking if the family needed anything, including housing. They declined the housing, and stayed with friends for two nights.

Then, they decided to meet with a Red Cross caseworker at regional headquarters in Manhattan to learn how to find more permanent housing.

The caseworker helped the family determine the correct paperwork for housing through NYC’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development, what resources were available for the mother’s medical needs, and other key next steps.

“I was surprised at all the help the Red Cross gave me,” Alvarez said.

Alvarez appreciates that she came out of the devastating fire with what she needs most.

“I have the most important things – my family.”

Additionally, Alvarez works at a local hospital and is thankful that her employer has given her a lot of support. “Between my job and the Red Cross – it’s a family. A real family.”

Patrick was our hero.

Jaimie Sanita and Emily Viemeister were awakened around 4 am on a steamy night in July by frantic knocking by a neighbor: there was a fire in their building. They rushed down from the sixth floor and watched from across the street as their apartment and two others were consumed by flames.

The two best friends and former NYU college roommates had no idea what to do and where to go next. Then, a Red Cross disaster responder arrived as the fire was extinguished.

“We met Patrick, and he was our savior,” Jaimie said. “He went above and beyond. He made the situation bearable.”

“Patrick was amazing,” Emily agreed. “He gave us cold water and made sure everyone on the street had cold water. He did all the paperwork. He gave us a debit card for food.”

Patrick also prepared them for what they could expect when they were allowed back into their apartment to see what they could retrieve.

“It looked like a war zone,” Jaimie said. You could see straight to the sky when you looked up.”

Although Jaimie, a banker, and Emily, who works in PR, declined an offer of short-term Red Cross arranged housing and have been staying with friends, they are grateful for everything the Red Cross—and in particular Patrick, has done for them.

“You could tell he cared and wanted to make the situation a little better. He was our hero,” Emily said. She added about the Red Cross, “Keep doing what you’re doing. It makes a difference.”

"The responders really helped with a smile.”

Alicia Rios, her husband, Miguel Ortiz, and their two daughters, Diana Rios, 16 and Felicia Rios, 14, were recently burned out of their Bronx apartment. They were grateful the Red Cross was there to help.

The night of the fire, the family members were all asleep. Feeling unusually warm, Miguel awoke around 1 am. He told Alicia he thought he smelled bread toasting; to her it smelled more like fire. 

Miguel went upstairs and found smoke coming through the apartment door above. The family ran outside to safety—just before their living room ceiling collapsed in smoke and flame.
 

“It was a miracle we got out, but it was so sad,” said Alicia. “Even though we did not get hurt, we saw pictures of our family go down with the fire. We lost everything.”

They had moved into the apartment only a month earlier. 

Red Cross disaster responders met with the family at the scene. After making sure that Alicia, who has a heart condition, was not in need of medical assistance, they arranged for temporary housing for the family at a hotel, and drove them there.  

Alicia, Miguel and the girls came to Red Cross headquarters days later, where they received financial assistance for food assistance and referrals for long term housing.

"The Red Cross came and they were so friendly and supportive,” said Alicia. "The responders really helped with a smile. They helped a lot and are still helping."

“I thank the Red Cross for helping me bounce back up.”

Friends and neighbors Cristina Morales (l) and Miguelina Jaquez (r)

Miguelina Jaquez and Cristina Morales, neighbors and friends for 33 years, live on the “E” line of apartments at 2440 Amsterdam Ave., in Manhattan’s Washington Heights.

The evening of Jan. 23, a four-alarm fire drove them both from their homes and out into the bitter cold. 

Morales , whose smoke alarm had gone off, ran down to Jaquez’s apartment to alert the family—Miguelina, her daughter, son-in-law, and their 8-month old son—to get out. 

Jaquez grabbed her purse and they ran from the building.

“If had been 1:30 in the morning we’d all be gone,” said Jaquez, an administrator for the MTA. “When the fire was climbing up the walls it got stronger toward the fourth floor and blew up; it went up to the roof …. we’re blessed to be alive.”

Morales, who left her apartment with no coat and only slippers on her feet, said she is grateful for the emergency financial assistance she received from the Red Cross for food and clothing. She says from now on she plans to donate ten dollars a month, every month, to help other families who may be displaced from their homes as she was.  

Jaquez said, “You helped me get back on my feet. I had no clothes; I lost everything. So to be able to get some clothes with the [debit] card you gave me helped so much. I thank the Red Cross for helping me bounce back up.”

If you asked me my name, I couldn’t tell you.

Disbelief … shock … sadness.

Sandra Simpson felt all these emotions while watching her basement become engulfed in flames on Labor Day 2012, then watching those flames leap to the first, and then the second, floor of her single-family, three-story home in Cambria Heights, New York.

The fire began when new bars were installed on the house’s basement windows. Without the welders’ knowledge, an errant spark had travelled into the basement, setting it afire. After the welders left, Simpson’s husband, who had gone outside to get the car, called his wife on his cell.

“Do you smell smoke?” he said.

He then spotted the flames, screamed for her to get out of the house, and called 911. (Luckily, their daughter, 19, was staying at her grandparents’ house.)

As they watched the flames spread, the fire department arrived. They quickly put out the blaze, which destroyed the basement and first floor, rendering the house unlivable.

“The Red Cross came maybe within a half hour,” said Simpson. “There were two responders, a brother and sister. Her first question to me was ‘Is everybody safe?” I told her yes. She asked me, ‘What do you need?’ She started to tell me about the Red Cross and all they could provide. She was so giving, so concerned.

“You’re dazed from what happened to you. You don’t know what to do or who to call and she provided such good information: ‘We’re going to get a hotel; if you need food, if you need clothes, we have those things in the van; tomorrow you’ll call the office. They’ll tell you if you need to come in and walk you through everything.’”

Simpson said that before the fire, she associated Red Cross only with CPR and blood donations.

“I had no idea that the Red Cross helped after a fire,” she said. “Before they arrived, I couldn’t think straight—and I’m a nurse. If you asked me my name, I couldn’t tell you. The responders calmed us down.”

After being dropped off at a nearby hotel, Simpson and her husband received many more calls from the Red Cross. “Everyone from the Red Cross who called said, ‘Are you okay?’ ‘You need to come in to see us.’ ‘Do you have food?’ ‘Did you get your debit card?’ I can’t thank the Red Cross enough.”

Sandra Simpson, Queens, N.Y.

"It’s a normal day, and the next thing you know your building gets hit by lightning."

According to the National Weather Service, about 25 million lightning flashes occur each year in the United States, each one potentially deadly.

In Ryan Gerald del Castillo’s case, on July 26, lightning struck not him, but the roof of his seven-story Brooklyn apartment building, setting off a massive 7-alarm blaze. The fire raged through the building, ultimately forcing him out of the second floor apartment he’d lived in for nearly 17 years, since he’d emigrated to the U.S. from the Philippines.

Because the building is so large, and because the fire started on the top floor, it was at least an hour—and possibly longer—before del Castillo, a nurse at the NYU Medical Center ICU in Manhattan, realized the extent of the fire and left for the safety of the street.

He explained that because he lives so close to at least two neighborhood hospitals, it’s normal to hear sirens—fire trucks, ambulances and alarms.

“You always hear something,” he said. “I didn’t really see smoke … I was nonchalant.”

Once outside, del Castillo joined his aunt, who also works as a nurse, but at Kings County hospital, and lives with her daughter on the building’s first floor. His aunt had called about twenty minutes after the fire started to make sure her nephew was okay and he’d assured her he was.

Now, watching as the flames covering the entire roof spread, del Castillo understood the true severity of the situation.

“I’m looking at the building with this blank stare,” he said. “It was overwhelming; it was traumatic. You can’t even talk.”

He and his aunt decided to visit the Red Cross reception center set up at a nearby school for assistance.

“We needed someone to comfort us,” he said. “The Red Cross volunteer was helpful and friendly and asked how we were doing. You feel horrible, and they’re there to listen a little.”

Although he and his aunt declined emergency housing from the Red Cross, he said they were extremely grateful for the assistance they did receive.

“I’m so appreciative of the Red Cross,” he said. “They were helpful with what to do next. Me and my aunt are thinking of volunteering after we get settled. It’s not just the physical help they give; it’s the emotional help that people need.”

Ryan Gerald del Castillo, Brooklyn, NY