New Haven Fire twitter photo
The aftermath, on Monday. Apartment door at foreground.
A heavy fire that destroyed three apartments and damaged another five displaced 32 people from a Mandy Management apartment complex.
That fire took place at around 5:58 p.m. Saturday at 265 Blake St., which consists of 40 apartments spread across six different two-story buildings set back from the corner of Blake and Fitch.
City Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Coughlin said the fire took about an hour to get under control. Fortunately, none of the 32 displaced residents were injured; a firefighter received medical treatment for an injured back.
Coughlin said the fire department received a report of a “porch fire” — but when firefighters arrived, it was “far more than a porch fire.” He said “heavy fire” went up the side of one of the buildings, completely wrecking three apartments and causing a roof to cave in. Another five apartments were “heavily damaged” by water and smoke.
“The whole building is completely uninhabitable,” Coughlin said about the damaged part of 265 Blake.
The displaced residents have been relocated to temporary lodgings with the help of Red Cross.
Coughlin said the source of the fire is still under investigation.
“Our top priority is the well-being of our residents,” Mandy Management CEO Yudi Gurevitch told the Independent. “We are grateful that all tenants safely evacuated the fire on Saturday night. Our thoughts are with the firefighter who was injured during the response, and are relieved to hear he has since been released. We are doing everything we can to support those affected including providing temporary accommodations at local hotels and working with New Haven officials to secure permanent housing solutions.”
On Sunday morning, Christine Edwards posted on Facebook a link to a GoFundMe fundraising page set up on behalf of a 265 Blake resident named Paris Dewindt.
“Me and My family Lost Our Home Yesterday Due to a fire,” that GoFundMe reads. “Any donations , . my daughter will give birth in 2 weeks . i have a 2 year old granddaughter and a 6 year old granddaughter who lost everything , blankets food clothes anything helps . any donations or prayers to help our family in this terrible tragedy. Please Anyone this is a real difficult time for me and my family .”
Views from 265 Blake.
