A four-alarm fire in East New York has left at least 80 people displaced.
Photo by Lloyd Mitchell
Two days after a devastating four-alarm fire an East New York public housing development, residents are piecing together what’s next in their lives and the new year.
The blaze began near NYCHA’s Penn-Wortman Houses at 893 Schenck. Ave. at around 7 p.m. on New Year’s Eve, according to the FDNY, and quickly spread through units at 891 and 893 Schenck Ave. and an adjacent construction site. Residents reported hearing loud explosions from people playing with fireworks shortly before the fire broke out, and firefighters arrived to find construction equipment and sixty apartments on fire.
More than 130 firefighters were called to battle the blaze, stretching hose lines to reach interior apartments and beat back flames and smoke reaching toward the apartment buildings from the construction site. Despite the speed and strength of the fire, searches of the construction site and apartments proved negative for people trapped.
The blaze injured seven people – five residents and two firefighters — and displaced at least 80 people, according to the American Red Cross.
“I saw kids playing with the fireworks as I was walking my grandkids,” said resident Tony Robertson. “I don’t know what to do. This is truly remarkable.”
Another resident, 74-year-old Lisa Perez, said her grandson Carlos called her screaming that the apartment was on fire, and said “it was only by some miracle of god that his apartment isn’t badly damaged.”
The FDNY has not yet announced the cause of the fire — though Fire Marshals were seen removing box of used fireworks from the scene on Sunday night.
Penn-Wortman Houses, a NYCHA development, is part of the city’s Permanent Affordability Commitment Together program. Through PACT, public housing developments are added to the federal Rental Assistance Demonstration program and converted to…
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