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Fire ruins the holidays in 7 apartments

Twelve people had to find other places to live after an electrical fire at Brookside Apartments.

By AMBER MOBLEY
Published December 24, 2005

[Times photo: Mike Pease]

Kareem Taylor and Jacqueline Calhoun carry items from Tameshia Roberson and Terrence Myrick's damaged home.

TAMPA - For Tameshia Roberson, Christmas ended three days before it started.

The University of South Florida senior, a biomedical sciences major, came home to a smoked out apartment Thursday shortly before 8 p.m.

Firefighters had gouged huge holes in the ceiling and walls of Roberson's second-story apartment, leaving her bathroom walls gutted. A stuffed Winnie the Pooh bear doll lay buried in plaster and other burned debris on the floor.

Thursday night, an electrical fire began smoldering inside the walls of the Brookside Apartments unit where she lived, and it left seven apartments uninhabitable for the holidays, reported Tampa Fire Rescue officials.

In the aftermath, 11 adults and one child won't be spending Christmas at home. Instead, hotels and the residences of families and friends will have to suffice.

The Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross, which is assisting the families with food, clothing and temporary shelter, put Roberson, 24, and her two roommates, boyfriend Terrence Myrick, 23, and her cousin, in a hotel for the short term.

And Brookside Apartments, located just off N 50th Street and E Busch Boulevard, plans to house some of the displaced residents at a nearby apartment complex.

Still, Christmas, said Roberson, won't be the same this year.

"I was going to go home for Christmas," said Roberson, who's originally from Haines City, "but now I've got to hang around here and see what's what. We didn't have renter's insurance. I don't know which way to go or what route I need to take to start over again," she said.

Although Roberson and her roommates didn't have a Christmas tree, most of their Christmas presents were destroyed.

"Some of the kids' gifts were okay," Roberson said about presents purchased for her boyfriend's children, "but all our clothes, our bedding and a lot of other stuff is ruined."

The children of Roberson's boyfriend do not live at the apartment.

The resident of another apartment, Tamara Robinson, 27, was out Christmas shopping Thursday evening when her brother called to tell her she had no home to come home to.

"I was devastated," said Robinson, who had just moved to Brookside Apartments from Ybor City last month with her five-year-old daughter Janiya Kitchen. "I was trying to get in a better environment but now I've got to deal with this."

"It just all happened so fast and at the end of the year. That makes it harder (to deal with)," said Robinson. The Red Cross also put Robinson and her daughter in a hotel until Tuesday.

"It was sweet of them," she said. "At least we have somewhere for the holidays, but after Tuesday I don't know what our next move is going to be and that's what's so scary."

The Tampa Bay Red Cross aids, on average, one family a day displaced by a fire, said Judi Knight, disaster specialist for the area Red Cross.

To help families displaced by this and other fires, monetary donations earmarked for the Tampa Bay Red Cross Single Family Fire Program can be sent to the Tampa Bay American Red Cross, 3310 W Wain St., Tampa, FL 33607.

The Tampa Bay Chapter of the American Red Cross also is looking to train volunteers to help coordinate temporary arrangements for displaced families. Call (813) 348-4820 for more information.

[Last modified December 24, 2005, 01:09:13]