NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Days after a fire on Solomon Street in Mid-City, families are still trying to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives.
Home sweet home is home no more for Yolanda Coffil, who lost her home after a shed fire on Solomon Street scorched her nearby home early Sunday morning.
“Right now, I’m still trying to grasp that I’m going through this because it doesn’t seem real,” Coffil said.
She went on to say, “It just hurts to stand in the street and see your house go up in flames.”
Her neighbor Desiree Andrews lost everything too.
“The windows popped open, the furniture burned, and the ceiling collapsed,” she said.
It has been a busy 72 hours for the American Red Cross that’s been helping several families because of multiple fires city-wide.
“This can be devastating, not uncommon for a fire to completely destroy a home and nobody is prepared for that,” Greg Dolittle with American Red Cross said.
When families are affected by disasters like home fires, the American Red Cross is there to lend a helping hand with their comfort kits and their clean up kits.
“They reached out, gave me shelter for a couple of days, hotel for a couple of days, they gave us voucher to get little things we need,” Coffil said.
Although grateful for the much-needed support in the short term, these families are left worrying about the long-term.
“It will get me through the week. It is not enough, I totally lost everything in my home,” Coffill said.
She went on to say, “This is something I see on the news with other families, but never thought I’d ever be part of that group, it hurts.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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