Special Report: Path to recovery for local house fire victims
When: Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2014
Where: Riverhead
What happened: A tenant at Ms. Carson’s home on Riverside Drive tossed some fireplace embers underneath the back deck on New Year’s Day, sparking a fire on the deck that eventually tore apart the rest of the house. Aid from five local fire departments was eventually required to knock down the fire. The tenant was hospitalized with second-degree burns on his face. Ms. Carson — who didn’t live at the home at the time — was out of town. Three other people were able to escape from the home unharmed.
Rani Carson — a Riverhead artist whose home caught fire while she was away on New Year’s Day 2014 — has had to come up with other ways to pay for her repairs.
She had paid her insurance dutifully for years, she said, but missed a payment a few months before the fire. Her insurance had been canceled when the home burned down.
Ms. Carson tried selling her art to raise money.
“Unfortunately it wasn’t really enough to make a substantial difference,” she said. “But it did help.”
Ms. Carson’s work is still on exhibit at the Suffolk County Historical Society through March 24. She hopes potential buyers might take interest in them there.
Her home still hasn’t been repaired. Today, a tarp hangs over a gaping hole in the rear of the house, where a fire started when ashes and embers placed under a rear porch ignited and climbed up the building. Ms. Carson, with the help of some workers within Town Hall, was able to stay on her property by converting an old garage into a makeshift apartment.
She’s been staying there while she bounces back.
“It’s been devastating in many ways, but fortunately I’ve been able to put a kitchen into my garage,” she said. Her artwork hangs on the walls and lies in storage containers nearby.
Ms. Carson said she’ll likely have to use her retirement savings and take out a loan to get enough money to fix her house and move back in.
Ms. Carson said she appreciates and respects the pain she and other house fire victims have felt. She tries to not dwell on what she’s lost.
“I believe very strongly that we are spiritual beings passing through physical perspectives,” she said. “There’s more important things than the physical.”
