By Emily Drooby
On Wednesday night, Minnea’s apartment building went up in flames. Despite the tragedy, there was some joy, because after a full night of worrying, she now knows her beloved dog Murray is alive.
She explained, “I mean, he was our number one concern, so we are glad to have him back, and yeah its already hard enough to have maybe lost everything and have neighbors who lost everything.”
Murray was trapped in the burning building overnight. Firefighters finally got him out this morning. He seems thrilled to be back with his mom.
The reunion was a small beacon of hope after this massive fire gutted 702 44th Street in Brooklyn. 250 EMS and firefighters responded to the scene. There were no deaths, but 23 people suffered injuries, none are life-threatening.
St Agatha’s Church is just blocks away from the blaze.
St. Agatha’s Pastor, Father Vincentius Do said, “I believe we have some parishioners living in that apartment building and to hear of this huge fire is scary first of our thoughts and prayers, for everyone, regardless of whether they are parishioners or not; we are praying for them and hope that everyone is okay.”
Father Do also said, the local daycare center is looking to his church for help in the wake of the fire. He explained, “They reached out to me asking me whether they can come to our church and use our church temporarily.”
Father Do says they plan on helping the victims, including the daycare, in any way they can. St Agatha parishioner, George Skelly, feels the same way.
Skelly said, “But the neighborhood will come together, we will all help out, the church, stuff like that.”
The victims are going to need as much help as they can get. There were at least 54 apartments in this building which again is completely uninhabitable.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation but firefighters say it’s not suspicious.