A Bronx mother says she lost everything after a fire tore through her apartment in Morrisania on Tuesday morning, displacing her and her three children.
The FDNY says no one was hurt in the fire at 1048 Washington Ave. Fire officials say the blaze broke out around 10:30 a.m. and was put out in 28 minutes.
Michelle Lyons says she was on her way to court to face her landlord when she got word that her apartment was on fire.
“This is what I’ve come home to,” Lyons told News 12. “My entire apartment is burnt up.”
Lyons says she and her children had only been living there for about a year and are now left scrambling for somewhere to stay.
“We literally just got back on our feet. Where do we go now? We have nothing left,” she said.
She says a year’s worth of belongings and memories were destroyed in just minutes.
“We lost everything, memories gone,” Lyons said. “But thank God we didn’t lose our life. At least we can get up and start over somewhere else, but right now this is what we have left.”
The Red Cross is assisting Lyons and her three children with emergency housing, but she says the help is temporary and she is now searching for a more permanent place to live.
Lyons also told News 12 she was taking her landlord to court over what she described as neglect at the property. She said those issues were unrelated to the fire. The Department of Buildings tells News 12 there are no violations currently listed for the property.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.