Last night, thick smoke billowed into the air as a massive fire broke out at the corner of Lovely Lane and Pickstock street. It occurred a few minutes before 7 and now six people have been displaced and another family also sustained damages to their home.
Jomarie Lanza visited the area today and here's what she found out about this latest fire.
While one family is rummaging through damaged items, attempting to salvage what they could from their home, another family was completely displaced after a fire consumed their entire house yesterday evening at the corner of Lovely Lane & Pickstock Streets. We learned that 5 people, 2 adults and three children, resided in this charred structure. Their neighbor Jessica Lara spoke with us today about how she almost lost her entire home as well in the blaze.
Voice of: Jessica Lara, Fire Victim
"So I was just in my room from a days work I went to relax a little bit when I heard the neighbors frantic and yelling and that he what made me jump up and look out the window and I heard someone say it's downstairs so by the time I looked I saw a little smoke and I told my mom fire fire. I came out and grabbed a five gallon water because I was looking around for water your know and by the time I came out back downstairs was completely engulfed in flames and t burst through to the upstairs and that's where the upstairs caught so quickly and that's where the fire really escalated."
Reporter:
"Was anyone at home at that time?"
Voice of: Jessica Lara, Fire Victim
"Over there, the father had recently stepped out. He went to the shop or something and he turned right back because someone yelled for him and he came back and three kids he took them out. And so it was him and the three kids at the time. And the man that lived downstairs."
Lara says that she suspects one of the tenants who lived downstairs had knocked over a makeshift kerosene lamp he was using. And by the time they became aware of what was happening, very little could be done to save their belongings and so they vacated the structure, praying that not all would be lost.
Voice of: Jessica Lara, Fire Victim
"So the downstairs there was this man living there. It's like a little makeshift lamp that he made with kerosene and different little materials. He said it tipped over and that's what started."
"With the quickness and the flames it was huge and high and it was like coming near my house and so we just walked away because at that moment you feel so helpless and you don't know what else to do, and well there is nothing else to do and we put it in Gods hands."
"So the back part of the house my mom had some clothing and stuff she was trying to sell and what's not so it's that area that caught for my house. So all the clothes like it's melted and different little stuff she had in that corner. So it's mostly that back corner and the roofing and wiring and stuff got burnt on our one."