UWS Raises $10K For Another Family Displaced By 101st St. Fire

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — A family with two young sons are the latest from a West 101st Street building devastated by a fire last week to ask for the community's help as they search for a new home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Deirdre Scott was out at the supermarket last Thursday, her birthday, when she got a call from her oldest son, who had called 911 after realizing the seven-story building was on fire.

"I was five blocks away," Scott recalls. "I forgot my groceries and ran all the way home to find my sons standing on the sidewalk with smoke coming from the windows of the upper floors of the building."

The three-alarm fire, which would injure seven people, had broken out on the fifth floor of 241 West 101st Street and took more than 100 firefighters to extinguish.

It has left Scott and at least 10 other neighbors displaced from their homes, which were either destroyed by water, the flames or smoke. They now find themselves in a precarious position: searching for a home during a stay-at-home order.

Scott — like at least two other neighbors, who are all staying in a hotel temporarily — is hoping money raised through a GoFundMe, which her friend Melanie Sherman started, can help her family get back on their feet.

"We are not able to return to our apartment anytime soon," Scott said. "...The funds raised will assist with shelter, food and replacement of personal belongings."

The fundraiser had brought in almost $10,000 of its $15,000 goal as of Friday.

Other neighbors have told Patch that at least three or four apartments in the building need to be completely gutted before tenants can return to their homes. Even tenants whose apartments saw less damage weren't allowed to go back in until recently given that the power and gas had been cut.

Tenants who have started fundraisers include Alena Williams, who was displaced along with her fiancé and 2-year-old son and Anthony Trotter, a 26-year-old youth counselor, who raised $17,000 earlier this week.