On the early morning of Jan. 6, a five-alarm fireplace engulfed three buildings on Madison Avenue in Ridgewood, displacing 26 households and 6 children, some as younger as 1 yr outdated, and injuring 5 totally different firefighters who responded to the emergency.
In accordance with residents, many have been alerted earlier than alarms went off due to their shouting neighbors, and a few even awoke to search out whole partitions inside their rooms in flames. That neighborly effort has continued, with the Ridgewood group rallying collectively, spurred on by native enterprise homeowners and representatives, to donate over nicely $70,000 to varied fundraisers and tons of of garments, footwear, toiletries, meals objects and way more to the numerous people who misplaced the whole lot because of the blaze.
Picture by Patrick Stachniak
Picture by Patrick Stachniak
Two days later, scorch marks coated the façade, home windows stay shattered and one constructing’s whole roof is collapsed. Throughout the battle with the fireplace, out of the 220 fireplace fighters who aided within the effort, 5 have been injured together with one who was struck with an air conditioner that fell from the constructing. In accordance with one FDNY first responder, all 5 acquired remedy and are progressing nicely.
Picture by Patrick Stachniak
Picture by Patrick Stachniak
However the fires consumed the whole lot spreading to the three buildings inside minutes.
Felicia Brown lived along with her mom, Joann, in her childhood residence and first knew one thing was unsuitable when she heard folks shouting “fire” out within the hallway, earlier than the alarms went off. She thought it was coming from the TV, till she realized she acknowledged the voices as these of her neighbors.
Brown, who had been up late doing paperwork, woke her mom and grabbed the necessities: pockets, telephone, keys, a folder stuffed with necessary paperwork and, in fact, their cat. The 2 have been the final household to make it out of their constructing, passing by the primary flooring condominium the place flames spewed out from the window. In shock, Brown fumbled along with her telephone to name 911 standing throughout the road along with her neighbors.
Firefighters battled a 5 alarm fireplace in a row of Brownstones at 1824 Madison Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens on January 6.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
“I started hearing the fire engines then, and I saw them coming from every direction. They just shot up the middle of the block, and something in me just stood in the middle of the street… on instinct. They could probably see it, but I was flagging them down like ‘Right here this is where we need you to go,’” Brown stated. “And by the time I started to realize they were going in the building, that’s when we could start to see [the fire] in our apartment, the second floor.”
Brown stepped away briefly to name a buddy, strolling across the nook to listen to him when she noticed embers from the roof start falling to the bottom. By time she returned, lower than 10 minutes, the remainder of the buildings had gone up in smoke.
Firefighters battled a 5 alarm fireplace in a row of Brownstones at 1824 Madison Avenue in Ridgewood, Queens on January 6.Picture by Lloyd Mitchell
“I could see the glow from my room, the second bedroom, from the window across the street,” Brown stated. “Just knowing the room that has been my room my whole life is no longer there… it was just a lot to process.”
The Crimson Cross established an emergency reception heart on the close by PS239Q earlier than reserving rooms at two lodges in Flushing for these in want of a spot to remain in the intervening time. The non-profit additionally coordinated a number of areas, from faculties to native companies, to gather donations. Dozens of Ridgewood residents introduced donations to the ten totally different areas to the purpose the place a majority of them have been at capability and compelled to show folks away.
Janibell Suero, proprietor of the power-lifting gymnasium Fuerza Coaching Methods, noticed the mass inflow and wished to get her neighbors their help as rapidly as attainable, accumulating from the others and opening up the basement of her gymnasium. By her estimation, the group efficiently donated 5 truckloads value of things, to the purpose the place most areas have been at most storage capability.
Picture by Patrick Stachniak
Picture by Patrick Stachniak
“I was raised by community so anytime I see the opportunity to help or open my hands I will,” Suero stated. “We started with hot food, I got four trays of hot food then one thing led to the next and we just started like pulling in things and here we are… we have had a lot of people and businesses show up.”
Felicia Brown (left) and Janibell Suero (center) meet within the basement of Fuerza Coaching SystemsPhoto by Patrick Stachniak
Suero opened her gymnasium 5 years in the past and plans to develop the enterprise even additional in Ridgewood. The next days after the fireplace, Suero and over 30 volunteers, together with Katie Martin from the close by customized tailor store Grace Land NY, noticed 13 totally different households go to the make-shift donation heart to look via the wide range of things that unfold throughout a number of tables and coat racks across the room. The rafters over head shook because the lifters labored out above and neighbors who solely knew one another from passing seems to be or conversations checked in with one another and their family members. Brown and her mom stopped by to select up new garments and meals for his or her cat, in addition to chargers and different necessities that have been destroyed.
“We are very grateful to people that have donated anything, even little niche items that you might not expect. Janibell picked up a brush and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I need one of those,’” Brown stated. “Thank you… it’s been really just nice to see how much people are willing to give.”
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Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez has seen many fires just like the one on Madison Avenue escape in District 34, and launched a reform bundle often called the Again Dwelling Act to assist displaced New Yorkers by establishing the Workplace of Remediation, fully devoted to serving those that have been displaced from fires, floods or different emergencies. On high of a brand new workplace, different payments included within the bundle make sure the Division of Housing and Preservation (HPD) present housing within the surrounding space, mandate transparency through the restore course of and places restrictions on landlords’ then indefinite insurance coverage to maintain development shifting. The bundle handed in the summertime of 2025 and the workplace has but to grow to be operational, so Gutierrez’s personal workplace has been on standby to reply any questions and supply these displaced with assets.
“While we learn more in the days and weeks ahead about what caused the fires, District 34 is all to familiar with tragedies like this,” Gutierrez stated. “I am in awe, but not surprised, by how the Ridgewood community has come together to support the families impacted. My office is always here to help residents navigate recovery and access the support they need.”
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For residents like Brown and her mom, who misplaced their household residence, the devastation can’t be understated. Brown’s father handed away in June, and as a pragmatist, was the one who ensured his household saved the folder crammed with identification and different necessary paperwork readily available for such emergencies; one thing she hopes different households assemble as nicely. Although Brown understands that the condominium solely contained issues, and is grateful nobody was killed, the ache from shedding the one condominium she’s ever lived in and mementos from her father nonetheless stings.
“Everything that ever smelled like my dad or was his. I know it’s stuff, it’s replaceable, but those aspects of things are not… stuff that he touched. It’s really heartbreaking to lose,” Brown stated. “Just little things you think of. You could walk into your room and grab something or go in the kitchen, so little things like that are what we miss. But definitely our last pieces of him.”
The reason for the fireplace continues to be unknown and a timeline for the constructing repairs has but to be established. These displaced can discover assets on Gutierrez’s web site or go to Fuerza Coaching Methods, as Suero said she plans to maintain the basement open till not wanted, with any surplus donated to different native charities. Brown and her mom are within the means of shifting in with household, additionally in Ridgewood, and different residents are nonetheless making preparations as they keep within the lodges offered by Crimson Cross. Brown’s upstairs neighbors are nonetheless seeking their two cats and nonetheless hope somebody has managed to search out them.
Courtesy of Felicia Brown
