LI Woman Who Lost Everything In Fire May Have New Home For Christmas

CALVERTON, NY — A woman who was left with nothing after a raging fire last week may get a Christmas miracle. A caring community opened their arms and hearts in an overwhelming show of support to make sure she has a home for the holidays.

The news that she may have found a new home comes less than a week after the blaze left Katie Polk with just the clothes on her back and her car. The fire broke out Saturday morning at the Ramblewood Mobile Home Community, located on Sound Avenue in Calverton, ravaging her mobile home and taking the lives of her beloved cats.

A GoFundMe, "Katie Needs A New Home For Christmas" has been created to help. As of Friday, the page has raised over $69,000.

In a heartwarming update, Dawn Madigan, who created the page, wrote: "The big cleanup has almost been completed. Katie did not want the charred remains to be there for the holidays, so her beloved neighbors did not have to look at that another second."

She added: "I can’t say enough about Colucci Carting and Danny Watts and his fantastic guys for getting the job done so quickly. Thank you! And thank you for being so delicate and taking the time to get her very few items out that survived — her mom's plates that she loved, and a few photographs. Unfortunately, they also found the last missing kitty. Thank you for being so tender and kind in getting her back to Katie."

On a brighter note, there is hope on what was a bleak horizon. "We may actually get our wish for Katie to come true," Madigan said. "We have found a mobile home that would allow her to stay in her community — and if all goes well, she may be in it by Christmas."

Madigan added: "Thank you to all of you for the amazing love and support in every way that you have contributed. Katie sends her heartfelt love and thanks, and feels so blessed to have all these friends, new and old."

While the home has been secured, Polk will need everything to begin again and furnish her new space, so the page is still collecting donations to help.

Mark Donnelly, second assistant chef at the Wading River Fire Department, said the call came in at 10:51 a.m.; Wading River Fire District paramedics were at the scene two minutes later and found the trailer "fully involved" in fire, he said.

"Unfortunately, there were multiple cats that perished in the fire," Donnelly said.

Polk was out at the time of the fire — a giving woman who dedicates her life to helping others, she was delivering clothes to a woman recently released from jail after 17 years and who is homeless. Left with nothing, Polk thought not of herself, but of that woman.

"At least, her clothes were safe," she said.

Polk, however, was devastated by the loss of her beloved cats. The firefighters, she said, gently wrapped the cats' bodies and covered them. Later, Polk buried them at her brother's house.

Polk was concerned with coming back to the charred shell of what had once been her home, to make sure Bernie, a feral cat she feeds, was not left without his nightly meal.

Judy McCarthy, who lives next door, was also out at the time of the fire. The shutters on her home melted from the intense heat.

"It was a very hot fire," Donnelly said, adding that radiant heat damaged two other mobile homes.

Polk was told that had she been home, she likely wouldn't have survived. If she had been there, she would have desperately tried to save her cats.

In addition, there were "exposure issues," Donnelly said, with a pair of 2,500-pound propane cylinders attached to the mobile home.

"One of our priorities was to cool these tanks and make sure they weren't damaged," he said.

With the fire breaking out just days before Christmas, and all the gifts Polk had bought for friends and family lost, Donnelly said it was unfortunate, any time of the year, to have someone's home and belongings damaged by fire — and even more unfortunate, during the holidays.

"Thankfully, no one was injured," Donnelly said, including firefighters.

Firefighters from the Wading River, Rocky Point, Ridge, Manorville, Riverhead, and Brookhaven National Lab Fire Departments responded to the scene. Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps also responded.

Polk, who works for Daughters of Wisdom convent in Sound Beach, has also been a puppeteer, the bright smile behind "Katie's Puppets," delighting children at libraries and across Long Island for more than 30 years. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was forced to shutter her business and took a nursing job. She had also fractured her leg during the pandemic, and has been unable to perform with her puppets for some time. Her "number-one puppet, Mr. Mouse," who played the harmonica, was lost in the flames.

Another neighbor, Tracy Madison said she was left reeling. "I was devastated."

"My heart went out to Katie because I know how she felt about her pets," said Susan Grover.

Claire Accolla said she was shaking with fear. She ran down to the house when the fire first broke out. "I kept screaming, 'There are cats inside!'"

But sadly, despite valiant efforts, her cats could not be saved.

Ursula Monaco commended Riverhead Town Police Officer Janna Selock for her compassion at the scene; all involved also thanked the fire departments for their response.

On Sunday, Polk stood outside her home, trying to be strong despite the shock — wearing lipstick.

"My mother always said to make sure if anything happens, to have your lipstick on." She said she'd been able to purchase an outfit at Savers. "I'm very simple," she said. "I don't need much."

Searching through the rubble, the charred remains of her entire life, Polk was able to find some precious items including her mother's wedding rings, a rosary that survived — a treasured gift that had belonged to a neighbor's father— and a photo of Jesus, that was pristine and untouched, found in a blackened box.

A woman of great faith, Polk said she was able to withstand the loss of all of her material possessions. "It was the loss of my kitties that was the hardest," she said.

Polk, despite her innate optimism and steadfast faith, is now homeless. She is living with relatives, but was hopeful that she could replace her mobile home and rebuild in the same location at Ramblewood.

Despite the pain of all she's lost, Polk looks to the positive. "You have to look at all the blessings," she said. She thanked the firemen, the police, her family, her church, and her work colleagues.

And, she said, she thanked her neighbors —a steady stream who had poured in since the fire, bringing food, clothing, and an outpouring of caring and concern unlike anything Polk said she's ever seen. "I've been encircled by love," she said.

A CD survived the fire, one her brother had made for Polk years ago entitled "Party Mix." Listening to the music, Polk said it was a celebration of life — and hope.

"The love I've experienced outweighs the loss," she said. The show of support and hope, she said, "feels like a Christmas story."

To donate to the GoFundMe, click here.

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