Allerton tenant recovers son's ashes after losing home in 5-alarm fire
Anthony Randolph is now staying in a hotel, after the five-alarm fire ripped through his six-story apartment building on Wallace Avenue.
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One tenant impacted by the fire on Wallace Avenue in Allerton says he lost everything, including the one thing that meant the most to him.
Anthony Randolph is now staying in a hotel, after the five-alarm fire ripped through his six-story apartment building on Wallace Avenue.
“I saw the roof collapse into my apartment,” Randolph said. “Once I saw that, I knew there was nothing left.”
The FDNY said flames broke out around 2 a.m. on Jan. 10, between the roof and ceiling of the sixth floor.
Randolph lived on that floor.
“I had no hope, no hope of them finding it,” he said.
His son’s ashes were in the apartment where the father and son once lived together.
Randolph told News 12 his son, Tony Jr., died a year and half ago after suffering a massive heart attack.
He was 45 years old.
“It was bad enough I lost him the first time, and then I lost him a second time in the fire,” Randolph said.
RELATED: Final day: Allerton tenants collect belongings from charred Wallace Avenue apartment
The father received his son’s ashes on Friday after first responders breached the sixth floor and dug through four feet of debris.
The urn and part of the wooden cabinet it was in melted into the ash.
“That’s my baby boy, and they were able to give him back to me,” Randolph said. “That means a lot.”
A father and son are together again, in what is a glimmer of hope through the darkness of the rubble.
“I didn’t think that I would be able to hold him again,” Randolph said. “That’s the blessing.”
RELATED: Cherished memories burned in Allerton fire as full vacate order issued
