PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) – A Providence mother and her three children are now looking for a new place to live after a house fire Friday.
Nicole Cooney and her kids moved into the apartment building on George Cohan Boulevard right around Christmas last year. Firefighters said that they arrived Friday evening to find heavy fire on the third floor – the apartment right above hers.
All eight people who lived in the building made it out safely, and Saturday morning, Cooney was back at the building to get a look at what was left. The apartment sustained significant water damage, ruining most of their belongings.
“When I walked in the space it was just raining in our apartment,” she said, “and there was water everywhere, and the tarps were covering things, and it was so shocking to see.”
Almost everything the family owned was destroyed, save for some handmade Christmas ornaments her chidlren had made, still hanging on the tree.
“It’s hard to, you know, just sit with that and know that I don’t really know what we’re going to be doing or how I’m going to give them a Christmas,” she said.
A GoFundMe page has been started to raise money to find the family a new place to live; the organizer of the campaign said clothing donations would also be accepted.
The Red Cross is proving temporary housing but Cooney said she doesn’t have many other options after that.
But, she said that the fire has reminded her and her kids of what’s the most important during the holidays.
“We have one another, and that’s really…I mean really that is the essence of Christmas, when you think about it, so in that way it’s a blessing to be reminded of that.”
