Donations grow for dozens displaced after 4-alarm Upper West Side apartment building fire
UPPER WEST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Dozens of people are trying to figure out what's next after losing all of their belongings in a massive 4-alarm apartment building fire on the Upper West Side that broke out just before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.
Three residents and three firefighters received minor injuries amid the precarious blaze on West 107th Street and Amsterdam Avenue.
Flames could be seen shooting through the roof and top floor of the six-story building. The roof partially collapsed, sending chunks of hazardous brick debris tumbling to the street below.
"We established a collapse zone so no one walks beneath that area because we anticipate further collapse of that cornice," said Chief of Operations Kevin Woods, FDNY.
Later Tuesday evening, the Department of Buildings said it issued a full vacate order for the building due to significant fire damage throughout the structure -- a devastating moment for the families residing in the building.
The Red Cross said it registered 24 households for assistance, or about 41 adults and 4 children.
No lives were lost, but some families lost everything else.
"No phone. No medicine. No clothes. Nothing. Nothing," said resident Millie Marte.
For half a century, this was home for 70-year-old Marte.
As soon as she smelled smoke from her fourth-floor apartment, she banged on every door on the way down to warn neighbors.
"I go, 'get out, get out, get out. There's a fire. Get out,'" Marte said.
She spent the day at Ascension Roman Catholic Church just a few doors down. This is where she normally worships. This is where she put her neighbors before herself. As donations poured in, she helped them take what they needed as an entire building now pivots to temporary housing.
Alejandro Castro lived on the fifth floor and was able to escape safely.
"Coming from inside, screaming, 'come out right now, right now come.' They were sometimes paralyzed," Castro said.
Ascension Sunday School teacher Alex Ford donated chargers, toothbrushes and a bag of rubber duckies for a little smile.
"It's my neighbors, you know, we're community. When everything else falls apart, all we really have is each other," Ford said.
Meanwhile, Ascension Church plans to give the proceeds from their Christmas concert on Sunday to the fire victims.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
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