FORDHAM HEIGHTS, The Bronx (WABC) — Memorial services were held to mark four years since the deadly high-rise apartment building fire in the Bronx that claimed the lives of 17 people.
The fire broke out on Jan. 9 of 2022 at the 19-story Twin Parks North West apartment building in the Tremont section.
Heartbreak reverberated through the Masjid in the Bronx during a memorial service Friday night. Some wounds heal with time – others leave everlasting scars.
“Every time I hear a fire in an apartment building, I heard it recently, it just sparks back memories,” said Haji Dukuray.
Dukuray lost five family members in the Twin Parks fire four years ago.
“The memories – especially when the names are read. When those names are read it’s like the wounds come up all over again. It’s never easy hearing the names. I hear of a two-year-old that was buried. I mean, I remember my five-year-old niece placing her in the grave and the last person to touch her. It just brings up memories and that was my first time ever touching a lifeless body,” Dukuray said.
His relatives were among the 17 lives lost i one of the worst fires in New York City’s history. Eight of the victims were children, and more than 40 people were injured.
The tragedy changed the Gambian community forever. For decades, Twin Parks was the first American home for many of them. Haunted by what happened, many survivors moved away – but the trauma stayed.
The fire was started by space heaters. The blaze then spread through the building when the doors were not closed properly. Elected officials say the tragedy was about much more than space heaters and fire safety.
“For me there’s a larger story of divestment from the Bronx and disinvestment from the housing, because the use of a space heater is often a cry for help and a cry for heat,” said Congressman Ritchie Torres.
“Too often these tragedies, black and brown communities, working class communities, lower income class communities. That’s a problem. It’s systemic. Too many fires here in the Bronx,” added Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Survivors, meanwhile, say their memories and their past will not define their future or dim their hope.
“They are gone but they are not forgotten. Alright, they’re life – they’re gone as so many speakers said in Islam, we said to God we belong to him, we shall return. We will all go on one day, but the question is did we make a difference? They made a difference in peoples lives,” Dukuray says.
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