5-Alarm Fire in daHood

[Formosa]

89-07 34th Avenue—
https://patch.com/new-york/queens/jackson-heights-apartment-building-ablaze-4-alarm-fire-fdny

Say an extra prayer and send positive vibes for those impacted.

[Shelby2]

89-07 34th Avenue—
https://patch.com/new-york/queens/jackson-heights-apartment-building-ablaze-4-alarm-fire-fdny

Say an extra prayer and send positive vibes for those impacted.

As of 4:30 pm, it's now a 7 alarm fire    I walked over there an hour ago thinking I could donate a blanket (I had read on FB they were in need of certain things like blankets) but I couldn't find the Red Cross area and just ended up leaving. Just from that brief walk, my clothes and hair smelled like smoke upon returning home. This is terrible!

If you're on Instagram, there's an 89th St. tenants union that might post some updates on what people need. https://www.instagram.com/89sttenantsunidos/

[the80s]

I was wondering what the smoke was. How awful.

[the80s]

A GoFundMe has been set up. Nearly 100 families lost their homes. Please help if you are able.  https://www.gofundme.com/f/89staid

You can verify on the tenant association instagram that the link is genuine

[sl]

This is terrible, hope everyone is safe.

[Formosa]

A GoFundMe has been set up. Nearly 100 families lost their homes. Please help if you are able.  https://www.gofundme.com/f/89staid

You can verify on the tenant association instagram that the link is genuine

It's gratifying to see that $42K has already been raised, yet another testimony of the strength of this community.  Besides Dromm, I haven't seen AOC or either of the two Jessicas mention anything on their social media as prolific as they have proved to be in the past.  All politics are inherently local... just sayin'

[cannedgreats]

I noticed on the Citizen App that there have been multiple fires in JH in the past couple of days, even one this morning on 94th St.
The postings on the app are full of comments saying it's very strange/suspect. I know that sounds a little bit like conspiracy/paranoia, but I'm curious if anyone else has noticed this/has any ideas as to why? Do you think it is purely coincidence and not all that abnormal? I noticed that there doesn't seem to be a source of the fires released as of yet.

[dssjh]

Jessica Ramos addressed it early this morning. AOC hasn't, but she could actually be working instead of tweeting, which is a welcome trait among politicians.

A GoFundMe has been set up. Nearly 100 families lost their homes. Please help if you are able.  https://www.gofundme.com/f/89staid

You can verify on the tenant association instagram that the link is genuine

It's gratifying to see that $42K has already been raised, yet another testimony of the strength of this community.  Besides Dromm, I haven't seen AOC or either of the two Jessicas mention anything on their social media as prolific as they have proved to be in the past.  All politics are inherently local... just sayin'

[Formosa]

Jessica Ramos addressed it early this morning. AOC hasn't, but she could actually be working instead of tweeting, which is a welcome trait among politicians.

A GoFundMe has been set up. Nearly 100 families lost their homes. Please help if you are able.  https://www.gofundme.com/f/89staid

You can verify on the tenant association instagram that the link is genuine

It's gratifying to see that $42K has already been raised, yet another testimony of the strength of this community.  Besides Dromm, I haven't seen AOC or either of the two Jessicas mention anything on their social media as prolific as they have proved to be in the past.  All politics are inherently local... just sayin'

One would hope that most would realize by now tweeting isn't governance.  However, it would be great if AOC could get some of her 12MM++ followers to kick in some cents to the GoFundMe campaign.  As it stands, kudos to everyone's generosity of spirit, the campaign has raised almost $145K in less than 24hrs.  It's a band-aid for 90 families, but a start nevertheless.

[Scotsloon]

How do you donate things??  HOW?
Where are they needed?
What is needed?
It is so difficult to find out - please let us know, we cannot bring things if we have no idea where to bring them ..... dahh!

[Shelby2]

How do you donate things??  HOW?
Where are they needed?
What is needed?
It is so difficult to find out - please let us know, we cannot bring things if we have no idea where to bring them ..... dahh!

From what I've read on Facebook from the organizers, they are currently not taking any more in-kind donations (like clothing, toiletries, snacks, etc.) because they were overwhelmed with large amounts of donations and actually have no room for storage. At this moment, they are only accepting money donations to the Gofundme. There may be other ways to donate that I don't know of, but as of what I saw last night (Wed. 4/7), that's the status. That could change at some point if the organizers are able to get indoor storage, or if the families start to move into new apartments.

Gofundme https://www.gofundme.com/f/89staid

[Formosa]

How do you donate things??  HOW?
Where are they needed?
What is needed?
It is so difficult to find out - please let us know, we cannot bring things if we have no idea where to bring them ..... dahh!

Excellent question.  Besides the Red Cross, I'm not aware of a local CSO coordinating relief efforts.  The Love Wins Food Pantry, started by the same gent as the GoFundMe campaign, was accepting donations yesterday--
https://www.facebook.com/pg/lovewinsfoodpantry/posts/
I assume that org. is legit given it has the participation of a CB3 member.  You may wanna reach out to it directly to see whether more in-kind donations are needed.  Cheers.

[itsit]

   Can anyone point to a comprehensive story about this fire? What are the plausible outcomes for the tenants? How can our elected participate in helping here or if they already are, can we know what the details are? Long term, what can be done as a community to insure this doesn't happen again to others. It is impressive that the NY Fire Dept was there in three minutes but how did it spread to two buildings so suddenly? These and many other questions are in my mind and think others might be interested as well. Would also like to know about non-monetary needs that neighbors might help with as have heard that random donations aren't always the best.

    Does anyone have a fuller story so we can understand the scope of this tragedy?

[jh35]

   Can anyone point to a comprehensive story about this fire? What are the plausible outcomes for the tenants? How can our elected participate in helping here or if they already are, can we know what the details are? Long term, what can be done as a community to insure this doesn't happen again to others. It is impressive that the NY Fire Dept was there in three minutes but how did it spread to two buildings so suddenly? These and many other questions are in my mind and think others might be interested as well. Would also like to know about non-monetary needs that neighbors might help with as have heard that random donations aren't always the best.

    Does anyone have a fuller story so we can understand the scope of this tragedy?

https://www.cnn.com/2021/04/07/us/new-york-apartment-fire-jackson-heights-trnd/index.html

https://abc7ny.com/jackson-heights-fire-queens-apartment-fdny-building/10494060/

According to the articles, the people fleeing from the apartment where the fire started did not close the door. The fire spread quickly and then no one called 911 for 10 minutes.

[dssjh]

an overloaded power strip. exacerbated by the fact that people panicked -- as we all might -- and ran out of their burning apartment without closing the door.