YAKIMA, Wash.- 60 people are without a home after a fire at the Buckingham Apartments destroyed 28 units.
The Yakima Fire Department says there is a possibility of residents who lived on the first and second floors could eventually return to recover their possessions, but the fire destroyed the entirety of the third floor.
In the midst of the emergency, the American Red Cross set up a shelter at the Summit View Church of Christ for residents to recover and get back on their feet after losing everything.
Patrick Fontenot says he made it out of the burning building with only the clothes he had on.
“I was one of the last ones to come out,” says Fontenot. “I woke up and my apartment was already filling up with smoke. As I woke up, I was going for the door right as the firemen were kicking in.”
Now 14 months sober, Fontenot poured his all into his apartment. Still in the building, is everything from his ID, a thumb drive holding a book he’s been working on for months and a piece of his heart.
“My wife’s ashes were in there,” says Fontenot. “I’ve been carrying those around for four years. And to lose those is that, it’s like a stab in my heart that I’m not even trying to think about.”
For now, Fontenot is calling the shelter home.
While at the church, Red Cross volunteers are helping evacuees with everything from food, medicine and answering questions about where to go from here.
“For each individual, it’s going to be a slightly different answer,” says Jenny Carkner, Regional Disaster Program Officer for the Red Cross “So this is the phase of the operation that we really get to know the clients and listen to what they need.”
Carkner says eight people slept at the shelter the first night after the fire, while the Red Cross contacted 25 people to offer support.
“Whether individuals have checked in with us or not, we are going to do our best to try to contact families once we get to an individual casework process, which isn’t quite yet,” says Carkner.
Fontenot says he’s grateful for the shelter and resources the Red Cross is providing but isn’t thinking too hard on what’s next for him.
“I’m going with, like, a twig in the stream philosophy,” says Fontenot. “if there is any meaning in this, maybe I just go with the flow, and I’ll flow to wherever I need to be.”
For community members looking to support those who lost their home in the fire, the Red Cross is in need of volunteers and financial donations that can be made through its website.
