There is little that can be said about the January 30th blaze under the 86th Street el that hasn’t already been said. Quite simply, the man once thought to be a hero for saving a two-year old from the fire was the man who started it in the first place out of thoughtless, drunken anger. The languages of the world only have so many words for “heartbreaking” and “tragic” – we’re using them all up trying to describe what happened here.

Here’s a part of the story that I think needs a little more attention (from Feet In Two Worlds):

The fire that killed five Guatemalan immigrants last Saturday when it ravaged a building in the Brooklyn immigrant neighborhood of Bensonhurst has laid bare many of the features of the life of the undocumented in the U.S. It has shown what it means to be incapable of going back home, even after the saddest of family tragedies, and also how a deportation does not always mean permanent removal from this country.

Councilman Domenic Recchia has set up a victims fund in conjunction with the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty.

These families lost everything they had. Many of them have only the clothes on their backs, and they need our help. New Yorkers consistently show a charitable spirit when tragedy strikes. We need that charitable spirit right now. I am asking New Yorkers to dig deep into their pockets and help however they can.

Checks should be made out to “Bensonhurst Fire Victims Fund c/o Met Council” and sent to:

Bensonhurst Fire Victims Fund
c/o Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty
80 Maiden Lane
New York, NY 10038