ROANOKE, Va. – A deadly fire that ripped through a Downtown Roanoke home on Tuesday killed one man and left ten people homeless. Some of the tenants were experiencing homelessness not too long ago.
Now, some are living in hotels unsure of what the future holds.
“I was shocked you know what I mean,” Darnell Perkins, who was displaced by the fire said. “I let my boss know what happened at work, and he gave me permission to leave right away.”
Fire crews extinguished the rest of the flames and pulled one man, 51-year-old Gary Scales, from the fire.
“It was one life lost and one soul is too many to begin with,” Perkins said.
The Least of These Ministry was assisting six tenants with housing, helping them get back on their feet after experiencing homelessness. Perkins was one of those.
“Not having a roof over your head it’s hard, you know,” Perkins said. “You survive, you do what you have to do to maintain.”
Now, The Least of These Ministry’s Dawn Sandoval and the Red Cross are temporarily housing those affected by the fire in hotels while they’re repairing the home.
“We have no idea what the repairs, what the timeline is for any of that,” Sandoval said. “Our goal is to keep them where they are until they can go back home.”
Sandoval said it just goes to show anyone can end up without a home in the blink of an eye.
“Life always throws a lot of things,” Perkins said. “We just survive, and we just go, press forward.”
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