For Tenants, Fire Leaves More Lost Than Found

Rami Alnazzal lost his tuition money and two years of research in the fire that leveled Delaney’s Restaurant and Tap Room. His roommate Fuad Abdalla thought he lost his Jordanian passport — then found it in the rubble.

No one was seriously physically harmed in the all-night electrical fire at Westville commercial hot spot Delaney’s on Aug. 25. But nine upstairs tenants lost their homes and possessions, and are now seeking ways to rebuild their lives, with the community’s help.

For still-homeless tenants like Alnazzal and Abdalla, the process has included a daily lost-and-found quest, with mixed results. They told their story Wednesday at Three Judges Motor Lodge, where they’re temporarily staying. The room at the bottom floor of the motel, just off Whalley Avenue, is cramped and smells of smoke. A few belongings sit in a box on the motel chair.

The people living in three of the five rooms upstairs from Delaney’s at the time of the fire have found new homes with the help of neighbors and the Harp Administration’s Livable City Initiative (LCI), according to officials. Two households remain in temporary quarters in rundown hotels with their lives on hold: Alnazzl and Abdalla; and a hair stylist named Ronette Branham and her niece and her niece’s baby. Organizers of a new tenant relief fund hope to raise $10,000 to help the displaced tenants get settled. (Details for how to contribute can be found at the bottom of this story.) Chris Heitmann of the Westville Village Renaissance Alliance has been working non-stop since the fire to help both ex-tenants and ex-employees, raising money, and last week conducting a clothing, furniture and food drive.

Starting Over

When Delaney’s first caught on fire, Alnazzal (pictured), who moved to New Haven from Jordan five years ago and just finished a master’s in criminal justice at the University of New Haven, was out of town. His 17-year-old brother Yaseen called him on the phone to tell him their building was ablaze. Yaseen, who also lived in the apartment, was sleeping when the explosion went off in the basement.

Alnazzal, who’s 32, rushed back to see dozens of firefighters trying to find the source of the fire. He called his roommate Abdalla, who then returned from his trip to Walmart buying clothing and toys for his five children. The three watched as their possessions — electronics, furniture, clothing, money — were destroyed inside.

Abdalla, 53, said he realized he left his passport in an envelope in the apartment. He begged the fire marshal and police officers to enter and retrieve it. They refused; the site was too dangerous for anyone to enter.

Abdalla had been planning an upcoming visit to see his children in Jordan. He left all his family there when he first came to the United States in 1991. ​“I first came visiting and then I stayed here,” he said, with a shrug. He takes regular trips back.

“It’s very important to me,” he said. ​“I was supposed to take a vacation.”

Alnazzal wasn’t as lucky. He never recovered his tuition money. Nor did he recover the two years of research. He cannot receive his final degree or search for jobs in the field without that material, he said.

“I’ve never been in that position before. All my life plans, my research is gone,” he said. ​“Sometimes I get up and want to get something, and then realize its not there.”

Newly homeless, they asked their landlord what they should do. ​“He said, ​‘Go call your friends,’” Alnazzal said. City administrators connected them with representatives from the Red Cross, who first took them to Econo Lodge on Pond Lily Avenue in West Rock. They each received $60 credit for immediate expenses.

Abdalla said returned to the site of the fire — now a blackened pile of rubble — the next day to search for his missing passport.

He arrived as the remains of the building were first being cleared. ​“I saw the envelope there and said, ​‘Stop, stop, stop, stop! That’s the passport there,’” Abdalla (pictured above) said. The fire marshal went into the rubble to retrieve it. After a brief police hold on the document, Abdalla was reunited with the passport, which sustained only minimal water damage.

Two nights later, the city moved them to Three Judges Motor Lodge (pictured). They will stay there without cost until they find an apartment.

Though he has his passport back, Abdalla will not be able to afford a visit to Jordan until he finds another job. In the past he has worked to produce visas; he hopes to find new employment doing that. He’s currently out of a job.

The two roommates have submitted six applications for apartments in the Westville neighborhood and are just ​“waiting for someone to give us a call,” Abdalla said. Once they find a place, the city will pay the deposit and first month’s rent.

Both said they are thankful for community support so far. Who reached out to them? ​“Everybody,” they said emphatically, including neighbors, police officers and firefighters. But they are at a loss for what to do when it runs out.

“If we get an apartment, the city will help the first month, but what about the rest?” Alnazzal said. He wants to be able to support himself and his younger brother, who should be starting at a high school this fall. But without his degree, Alnazzal said, cannot move forward. ​“I don’t know if I can start over or not,” he said.

Molly Made It

Ronette Branham (pictured) ticks off some of the items she lost in the fire: A mink coat. A diamond ring. A laptop. An iPad. All her old school books and hair supplies.

Seemingly less important items have proved a bigger loss in the short-term: documents that attest to the income she has earned as a hair stylist. Without those documents, she has been unable to find an apartment, she said.

So she remains cooped up at the Econolodge, next to the Wilbur Cross Parkway, in a single room with her niece and niece’s baby.

“I’m fed up. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of the toilet breaking. I don’t live like that,” Branham said. ​“We’re crammed in one room. I need my own room.”

Branham had just gotten off a train in new Haven from New York when she got a call about the fire. She got a ride back and wasn’t able, obviously, to go inside to retrieve her belonging.

She did not, however, lose the most valued piece of her life that was trapped in the apartment — her cat Molly. At the outset of the fire, a firefighter rescued her. Molly isn’t allowed at the Econolodge. She’s at a cat shelter, where, Branham said, ​“they’re only going to keep her another week.”

How To Help

The Community Action Agency of New Haven set up an online fund to help people displaced by the fire. To send a donation, go to the site www.CAANH.NET and click the donation button for the Delaney Fire Fund on the right.

Click here to send a donation by PayPal.

Contact Jackie Lovegren (203 – 387-7700, Ext 245, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address))or Melody Vazquez (203 – 787-7700, ext 252, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) with information on resources available for displaced tenants.

To send a donation by mail, send a check (made out to ​“Delaney’s Fire Fund”) to the following address:

Community Action Agency of New Haven
ATT: Adrienne Sanders / Delaney’s
419 Whalley Avenue Suite 400
New Haven, CT 06511

Paul Bass contributed to this story.