2005-01-08

Apartment Fire Victims Start Over

01/08/05 AMARILLO - "It's time to start over," said Kirk Lewis as he stood in the cold, watching his apartment burn Friday evening.

Despite efforts of fire fighters, the inside of Peppertree Apartment building B could not be saved. "What a way to spend my friday night" Kirk commented, "Everything I own is in that apartment. Everything. My money, my medicine, everything."
While he can't get everything back, Amarillo's Red Cross is providing money for food, clothing, and rent to help the victims of this fire, like Lewis, start over.

Emily Nolte, an Amarillo Red Cross volunteer said "It's amazing how the dollars add up when you start rebuilding your lives." She was at the scene of the fire on Friday, talking to families and offering assistance.

One Amarillo College student lost his apartment as well, and because he did not know Red Cross was helping out until the next morning, he spent Friday night sleeping in his car. "I lost everything" said 22 year-old Tony Luangraj. "So, I wish I could've kept my safe deposit box or something like that. I didn't grab anything, other than my keys and cell phone." But even without a home, he's managed to stay upbeat by joking around that his bowling ball probably didn't get ruined in the fire disaster. He told his friends, "Hey, I can bowling still."

Some good news for Luangraj: he didn't have to spend another evening sleeping his car, because Red Cross set him up in a hotel for Saturday night. As for the other victims of the fire who've lost their home and everything in it, Red Cross said as of Saturday afternoon, they had only heard from about half of the families. But, they think it's because some families were out of town when the fire happened, or others don't know they can get help from Red Cross.

Building B had 24 units, and all were damaged by the fire. Fire officials say it was one of the largest fires in recent Amarillo history. They estimate the damage to be over $1 million, and are still investigating what the caused of the fire.
quoted from Fox news