Fire Guts Bridgehampton Home On Friday, Leaving Five Homeless

Five people were left homeless after fire swept through a Bridgehampton home early Friday, March 18.

One apartment in the house at 131 Narrow Lane was occupied by Tony Lambert, a Bridgehampton postal clerk, and his cousin, Robierre Brown, a custodian in the Sag Harbor School District.

Lambert said on Monday that he was staying in the Hilton Garden Motel in Riverhead for the time being and that Brown also had found temporary lodging.

Lambert said many people in the community had reached out to him, but he said it was difficult to ask for help.

“It’s okay when it’s someone else,” he said, “but I don’t know how I feel about it for me.”

He said the house had been his childhood home and that his mother had renovated it into two apartments decades ago.

In the meantime, Karina Bravo of New York has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help her mother, Sonia Amay, and her younger sister, Paulina Bravo, who lost all their possessions in the same fire.

The fund, which can be found by going to gofundme.com and entering “Help Sonia Get Back on Her Feet,” has a goal of $15,000. By Monday afternoon, $7,855 had been raised.

Amay is a housecleaner and Paulina Bravo is a clerk at the Walgreens pharmacy in the Bridgehampton Commons shopping center. Freddy Redrovan, who works for a pool construction company, also lived in the apartment.

Bravo said her mother and sister are temporarily staying with another family member in East Hampton.

She said her mother, who only speaks Spanish, wanted to thank the community members who had already provided her and her daughter with enough clothing to meet their needs and other assistance.

“We are so thankful for all the support,” Bravo said. “It’s horrible, but as I told my mom, ‘Everything can be bought again. I’m happy you are safe and sound.’”

Bravo said she received a phone call from her sister in the middle of the night. “She was obviously in a state of shock and in an adrenaline rush,” she said. “They had heard crackling noises in the kitchen, and by the time she opened the door, the fridge was on fire. She screamed and they got out.”

Chief Nicholas Hemby of the Bridgehampton Fire Department said when 1st Assistant Chief Thomas Federico arrived at the scene shortly after the call came in at 3 a.m., he found the south side of the house on fire and all of the occupants outside.

Hemby said the department requested help from the East Hampton, Sag Harbor and Southampton fire departments, but had extinguished the blaze by the time they arrived. “They assisted us with overhaul and cleanup,” he said.

The Southampton Town fire marshal’s office was called to investigate the cause of the fire.