Overview
- Authorities say the fire began in a seventh-floor kitchen and spread into the cockloft, causing severe damage to the top floors and roof area.
- The incident escalated to five alarms with mutual aid, and firefighters rescued a mother and daughter by ladder as two residents were taken to Jacobi Medical Center.
- The city’s emergency management office reports all roughly 250 occupants are displaced, with about 150 needing immediate shelter and many others away when the fire broke out.
- Holmes Elementary School is operating as a mass shelter for several nights with Red Cross support, as donations and social services are coordinated for evacuees.
- Officials noted the building lacked standpipes, complicating the response; multiple firefighters were injured and two remain hospitalized in intensive care.