CLEVELAND — Over two dozen people were displaced over the weekend in seven house fires and a car into an apartment building over the weekend.
Friday, Cleveland Fire responded to a burning home on West 95th Street, displacing a family of three and a dog, totaling over $35,000 in damages. The ashy remains mark one of 7 house fires and one car into an apartment building from over the weekend.
Megan Slyvester with the Regional Red Cross of Northern Ohio said their team immediately stepped in to help impacted victims.
“For a lot of these folks this is the first time it's ever happened to them and that's what our volunteers are here for,” said Slyvester, Regional Recovery Manager, Regional Red Cross Northern Ohio.
On West 95th Street, Destynee Irizarry, who lives two houses down from the latest fire, said her house caught on fire two years ago, so this is triggering.
“This neighborhood has a lot of freaking fires, it’s actually really sad,” said Irizarry. It’s really devastating. I looked at it and was like it actually really sad because I went through the same thing. I would see them here all the time. Now that another house has caught on fire in this neighborhood, do not recommend it.”
Slyvester said from the 8 total instances across the region this weekend, 28 people were displaced.
“Kids are often times involved, which makes things even more traumatic to go recover after that experience,” Slyvester added.
Sylvester also adding the Red Cross doesn't rest. The Cleveland area alone has around 400 house fires a year, which is more than one a day.
“Unfortunately, you think it would be less in the summertime, but we still see plug in AC units, plug in fans things, like that that still increase in our large numbers, so we don’t have a down time,” said Slyvester.
The Regional Red Cross of Northern Ohio distributed over $5,500 to the impacted families.
“It happens all too often that we see busy weekends like this,” Slyvester said. “While it is busy, unfortunately it’s normal for us.”
The Red Cross said their quick responses are only thanks to their volunteers and donors. If you would like to give back to the Red Cross, click here.
