DETROIT – A Detroit family is figuring out the next steps after a fire tore through a home on the city’s west side.
Olga Soto left home for coffee Tuesday (May 26) morning and returned to a nightmare: flames tearing through the second story of her 29th Street home, with family still inside.
Recommended Videos
“Parked my car and out of nowhere one of my family members are running on the porch, letting me know from upstairs there’s a fire,” Soto said.
Six relatives were in the home, including her four grandchildren.
One granddaughter escaped by jumping from a back window and suffered minor injuries.
Soto said she urged everyone to get out and call for help as she tried to stop the fire from spreading.
“I was like just go downstairs, go downstairs, call 911, call 911, because I was trying to control the fire,” Soto said.
The fire destroyed Soto’s bedroom, wiping out clothing, furniture, and cash she had saved.
Unsure where to begin, Soto reached out to Local 4 for help.
We connected her with the American Red Cross, which helped cover the cost of a hotel for the next couple of nights.
By Tuesday night, friends were hauling out debris and salvaging what they could.
Riquelmi Moreno, a friend of Soto’s, started a GoFundMe to help her recover.
“We’re going to be here to support her,” Moreno said. “Like you see, I’m helping her throw all this outside. We need dumpsters, we need anything we can from the community.”
Moreno, who owns Rincon Topical in Detroit, said he used to work with Soto at his restaurant.
When he heard about the fire at her home, he immediately jumped in to help, calling on the organization Detroiters Helping Each Other for assistance.
“When my restaurant was struggling, she used to come over there and be like, ’Don’t even worry about the pay, whenever you have it, that’s when you pay me,’” Moreno said. ”So of course that’s going to hit me directly to my heart.”
Soto said she’s focused on what mattered most.
“It’s not important, I can always get that material stuff,” Soto said. “But the important thing, my grandkids are okay.”