Neighbor Raises Money For UWS Fire Victims

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — An Upper West Sider who lives in a building that suffered a four-alarm fire last week is helping raise money for her neighbors who were put out by the damage.

Thirteen of Kerri Gawryn's neighbors were displaced when the fire ripped through their apartment building on West 101st St. between West End Avenue and Broadway on Wednesday, Feb. 20, she wrote in a GoFundMe campaign. Gawryn's apartment was not affected by the fire, but others in the building lost pets and prized possessions and were forced to seek help from the Red Cross.

"I was so blessed that my apartment was not directly affected by this, but my neighbors lost their animals, homes and possessions. Many of them are elderly and live on a fixed income," Gawryn wrote on the fund's page.

The Upper West Side resident added that an elderly couple who had called the building home for 50 years and another couple expecting a newborn were included in the families who were displaced from the building.

Firefighters responded to a blaze on the third floor of the seven-story apartment building on Wednesday afternoon, an FDNY spokesman said. The response was upgraded to a fourth alarm after, bringing more than 150 fire and EMS personnel to the scene, the spokesman said.

One civilian suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to the hospital, an FDNY spokesman said.

City fire marshals ruled the cause of the fire an accident. A torch being used for plumbing in the building — which is legal — started the fire and smoke alarms were found to be working, fire officials said.

Check out the GoFundMe campaign here.

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