Standing outside the fire-ravaged ruins of what had been his home, Nixon Antonio Catalan Velize had tears in his eyes today. His feet were cold; he had no socks and only one pair of wet shoes that he has been wearing for two days, since flames ripped through the house.
Velize, as well as five others who lived in the home located at 45805 Main Road in Southold, is now homeless after a fire tore through the 100-year-old structure only hours after a blizzard wreaked havoc on the North Fork Tuesday, leaving residents stranded in frigid temperatures and fierce winds.
While Velize stayed with his brother the night after the fire, last night, he slept in his car. “It’s very hard,” he said.
Velize said he lost all of his life’s savings in the fire, a flat screen TV, as well as all of his clothes, the title to his car, important paperwork, and a tank full of large, exotic fish that he’d lovingly tended. Those fish did not survive the fire, and Velize wept when he found them.
“He has no clothes, everything is gone,” Jesus Cruz, Nixon’s good colleague, said of his friend.. “All of his fish are on the floor, gone.”
Community Action of Southold Town has stepped up to help the victims of the fire, kicking off a fund to help. According to Denis Noncarrow, CAST president, both the organization and Bob Tapp, of the North Fork Designer Showhouse in Cutchogue, came together to do whatever they could to help.
Noncarrow said he spoke to Umbaldo Perez, another victim of the fire, who’s now staying with a relative in Greenport. “He’s pretty shaken up,” he said, adding that CAST was providing clothing, bedding, and even financial assistance to those left with nothing, their worldly possessions left in the rubble.
Tapp contacted CAST, Noncarrow said, and they decided to team up.
Tapp said he and his partner Rick have known Perez for over 20 years. “He’s a beloved person around the North Fork. Many, many people love him and consider him family and are dependent upon him.”
Besides a full-time job as a custodian at the Our Lady of Mercy Regional School in Cutchogue, Tapp said Perez also works part-time as a custodian at Sea Tow and has a small landscaping/handyman business. “He consistently works 75 hours a week, year after year.”
Even the day after he lost everything in the fire, Perez, who had been out on Nassau Point shoveling snow on the afternoon of the blizzard, was back at work.
“We felt terribly for him,” Tapp said, explaining how the idea was born to start a fund. “If CAST receives a ton of money, that would be such a gigantic gift for each and every one of those people.”
As for Perez, he said he got home from shoveling to find Main Road closed on Peconic Lane heading east. He headed around to the Empire Station and found the road closed there, too. Leaving his car, he walked back to see his house engulfed in smoke.
“It was so cold,” he said. “I walked to the house and everything was gone.” All of his possessions and a small amount of money were lost, he said, mainly to the smoke and water damage.
“The good thing is that I am safe. I am alive. I don’t care about the things,” he said.
Perez said he has a place to stay and said his thoughts were with the others who’d lived in the house, including one woman who had a little girl, about six years old.
Perez, who had lived in the home for a year, said the loss was hard to process. “It’s sad,” he said.
Standing outside the home today, Caesar Palannsia, who’d also lived inside, had a list of items he’d lost, including his queen-sized bed, blankets, a gold chain, and other belongings. He was hoping to recoup some of what he’d lost in the blaze.
Four local fire departments braved frigid temperatures and fierce winds after Tuesday’s blizzard as they battled the working fire.
The occupants of the two story wood-frame residence were all safely evacuated, Southold First Assistant Chief Jim Rich said. But the home was gutted and uninhabitable after the blaze.
The blaze was likely started by a wood-burning stove, Southold Fire Chief Peggy Killian said. The fire spread quickly up through the walls to the second story of the 100-year-old home because the home construction included no fire breaks. Firefighters were on scene within a minute and a half of the alarm, Killian said.
More than 100 volunteer firefighters responded to the call, which came in just before 2:15 p.m.,in frigid temperatures and blowing winds.
“These are obviously very difficult conditions for fighting a fire,” Rich said.
Tenants who live in the home stood outside watching in disbelief as firefighters did their work. Velize had tears in his eyes as he said he was out of the house when the fire started, helping a woman shovel her driveway.
Another tenant, Edgar Ochoa, was inside when the fire broke out. He said it was frightening. “I was very scared,” he said.
Southold, Mattituck, Greenport and Cutchogue Fire Departments responded to the blaze.
Main Road was closed to traffic in both directions between Peconic Lane and Ackerly Pond Lane, according to Suffolk County FRES. A state of emergency was still in place in Southold at the time of the fire.
The Suffolk County arson squad came out to investigate, Killian said.
Noncarrow said CAST was asking the community to come together and help those who’ve lost everything. “When things happen to other people, in your head, you think, ‘What if it was my family, standing out there?’ It’s just absolutely devastating. We’re going to do whatever we can do to help get these people right back where they need to be.”
Those wishing to donate can send checks to CAST, P.O. Box 159, Greenport, NY 11944, with the words “fire victims” in the subject line.
