Bushwick families struggle after fire leaves building uninhabitable
Firefighters rescued several residents from the roof during the blaze on Jan. 3. Video from the scene shows crews pulling a family to safety as flames spread through the building.
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Families in Bushwick are still trying to recover a week after a fire destroyed their apartment building and forced them out of their homes at 1345 DeKalb Ave.
Firefighters rescued several residents from the roof during the blaze on Jan. 3. Video from the scene shows crews pulling a family to safety as flames spread through the building.
“We were trapped. We were saying our goodbyes. We did not think we were going to make it,” said Jennifer Tolentino, whose family of seven lost their home of 26 years.
Since then, the family said they have been living in their cars while waiting for an official notice to vacate. Their apartment is now gutted. The fire escape they used to flee is scorched.
“As of right now, it is not livable,” a resident said.
A community GoFundMe has raised thousands of dollars to help them and their young children, Tolentino says it’s been a lifeline.
“Thank you for the schools, thank you for helping us. They actually helped us more than the Red Cross and HBD,” she said. “People from the schools gave us a lot of coats because a lot of us wear sweaters. They gave us supplies. They gave us food.”
The family said that after multiple 311 complaints and calls from the community to DOB, a vacate notice was eventually posted.
After News 12 reached out to the Red Cross to find out the status of housing for the family, Tolentino said they received a call within the hour and were given a hotel room until Wednesday.
“It should not have taken this long, sleeping for days in a car with a 4-year-old smelling like God knows what burning, it's scary," she said.
The family hopes their children can return to their home and neighborhood school.
“Thank you IS 93. My son loves you as much as you love him,” one parent said.
She said she hopes others learn from them and get renters insurance to help in moments like this.
"Don't be like me, you need it, I'll be getting it from now on absolutely," she said.
The family is thankful to the Queens Falcons youth football program, who spread to word about the GoFundMe when they learned her son Benjamin was impacted by the fire.
