A three-alarm fire erupted Wednesday along Lafayette Avenue, near Lewis Avenue, in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.

The fast-moving blaze started around 1:30 p.m. in one building, before spreading to the buildings on either side of it. Several families are now displaced.


What You Need To Know

  • A three-alarm fire erupted Wednesday afternoon along Lafayette Avenue, near Lewis Avenue, in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn

  • The Red Cross is providing assistance, including temporary housing and financial assistance, to at least nine families displaced by the fire

  • Ieisha Kamara, who should be celebrating the end of her senior year of high school, lost her prom dress in the fire
  • Two firefighters have minor injuries, and the investigation to determine the cause of the fire is ongoing

The response included 150 firefighters and EMTs, who worked for hours to put out pockets of fire.

Starr Payne, who lives on the top floor of one of the neighboring buildings with her two children, says she saw smoke inside her house when she had to flee.

“By the time we came out, smoke everywhere — literally everywhere,” Payne, who is now displaced, said.

Payne says she moved into her unit around four months ago.

“We lost everything, and I know our life is more important. I’m glad that we made it out safe, but this is a lot right now, this is a lot,” she said.

Payne’s high school-aged daughter, Ieisha Kamara, should be celebrating the end of her senior year.

“Everything that I had in there was lost. I don’t have nothing. My prom is on June 18, and my prom dress is in there. Everything that I had to graduate and go to prom is just gone,” Kamara said.

This family is one of at least nine displaced by the fire, according to the Red Cross, which is now providing assistance like temporary housing for two days.

Payne says she’s worried about her family’s living situation beyond that timeframe, but the Red Cross says they’re working with Payne to support her needs.

“We have an excellent case work team. We already made her [Payne] an appointment to meet with them before her checkout of the hotel, so she can get a plan in place in terms of long-term housing,” Nicholas Giaquinto, disaster response manager with the American Red Cross, said.

Payne says she has to be an example for her children, during a time when it feels like their lives have been upended.

“At first I was out of it, but I gotta be strong for them,” she said.

The building where the fire started was unoccupied at the time, but fire officials said there was a lot of debris and clutter outside of it.

Two firefighters have minor injuries. The investigation to determine the cause of the fire is ongoing.