Story and photos by Lynette Nyman/American Red Cross
Among the dozens of people displaced by the five-alarm (big and powerful) fire in the very early morning hours of June 3 in Robbinsdale, Minnesota, is Donna Parrish.
Donna, who’s old enough to have children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, has lived at Beach South Apartments for 30 years. Hers is a home now gone, literally it was burned through and through.
Her memory of the beginning is waking after midnight and hearing a crackling sound that she thought was hail –a storm, after all, was expected to arrive in the next twenty-four hour period. But the sounds were no storm of weather. She went to look out the blinds, through the window, into the darkness. Smoke and sparks are what she saw. And someone with a fire extinguisher, she says.
Moments later a pounding on the door announced that escape from the burning building was necessary right then, without hesitation. She fled with only her pajamas and slippers. I’ll have to take some quiet time to assess what’s next, she says.
Dozens of people are displaced because of this fire. Some will never return while others will have to wait for the smoke to clear and repairs to happen.
Red Cross volunteers are helping Donna, her daughter, and each of the others affected by this disaster get back their lives.
Learn more about American Red Cross disaster relief.
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