Excerpts from article by Danielle De Souza, LoHud.com:
Monica Bowens stood in the cold with tears in her eyes, hugging herself and watching her family’s apartment building and all the family’s possessions burn.
“The most important thing is that we are here, but we have nothing,” the 39-year-old said Thursday evening, shaking her head.
She and her three children were among the 12 families – 48 people – left without a home by the four-alarm fire that started around 4:30 p.m.
The blaze started on the rear porches of 66 Elliott Ave. and spread to the roof, Yonkers Fire Commissioner Anthony Pagano said at the scene.
“There were no reported injuries and no one was reported missing,” Pagano said. “There were people who were trapped inside, but they were brought out.”
As clouds of black smoke blew down the street, people watched, took pictures with cameras and cell phones, cried and prayed.
Some of the displaced residents said they heard that the fire started after a group of children set a cat on fire.
“I heard that too,” Bowens said. “But, I don’t know.”
A fire official said Thursday night that the cause was not yet known.
Bowens said she was lying down when a friend told her that there was a fire in the building. She said she had tried to go out the back door, but her nephew told her it was a “serious fire.”
