‘It’s really heartbreaking’: Ridgewood rallies to help victims of five-alarm Madison Street fire

On the early morning of Jan. 6, a five-alarm fire engulfed three buildings on Madison Street in Ridgewood, displacing 26 families and six kids, some as young as 1 year old, and injuring five different firefighters who responded to the emergency.

According to residents, many were alerted before alarms went off because of their shouting neighbors, and some even awoke to find entire walls within their rooms in flames. That neighborly effort has continued, with the Ridgewood community rallying together, spurred on by local business owners and representatives, to donate over well $70,000 to various fundraisers and hundreds of clothes, shoes, toiletries, food items and much more to the many individuals who lost everything as a result of the blaze.

Photo by Patrick Stachniak

Photo by Patrick Stachniak

Two days later, scorch marks covered the façade, windows remain shattered and one building’s entire roof is collapsed. During the battle with the fire, out of the 220 firefighters who aided in the effort, five were injured, including one who was struck with an air conditioner that fell from the building. According to one FDNY first responder, all five received treatment and are progressing well.

Photo by Patrick Stachniak

Photo by Patrick Stachniak

But the fires consumed everything spreading to the three buildings within minutes.

Felicia Brown lived with her mother, Joann, in her childhood home and first knew something was wrong when she heard people shouting “fire” out in the hallway, before the alarms went off. She thought it was coming from the TV, until she realized she recognized the voices as those of her neighbors.

Brown, who had been up late doing paperwork, woke her mother and grabbed the essentials: wallet, phone, keys, a folder full of important documents and, of course, their cat. The two were the last family to make it out of their building, passing by the first floor apartment where flames spewed out from the window. In shock, Brown fumbled with her phone to call 911 standing across the street with her neighbors.

Firefighters battled a five alarm fire in a row of Brownstones at 1824 Madison Street in Ridgewood, Queens on January 6.Photo by Lloyd Mitchell

“I started hearing the fire engines then, and I saw them coming from every direction. They just shot up the middle of the block, and something in me just stood in the middle of the street… on instinct. They could probably see it, but I was flagging them down like ‘Right here this is where we need you to go,'” Brown said. “And by the time I started to realize they were going in the building, that’s when we could start to see [the fire] in our apartment, the second floor.”

Brown stepped away briefly to call a friend, walking around the corner to hear him when she saw embers from the roof begin falling to the ground. By time she returned, less than 10 minutes, the rest of the buildings had gone up in smoke.

Firefighters battled a five alarm fire in a row of Brownstones at 1824 Madison Street in Ridgewood, Queens on Jan. 6. Photo by Lloyd Mitchell

“I could see the glow from my room, the second bedroom, from the window across the street,” Brown said. “Just knowing the room that has been my room my whole life is no longer there… it was just a lot to process.”

The Red Cross established an emergency reception center at the nearby PS239Q before booking rooms at two hotels in Flushing for those in need of a place to stay for the time being. The non-profit also coordinated several locations, from schools to local businesses, to collect donations. Dozens of Ridgewood residents brought donations to the 10 different locations to the point where a majority of them were at capacity and forced to turn people away.

Janibell Suero, owner of the power-lifting gym Fuerza Training Systems, saw the mass influx and wanted to get her neighbors their aid as quickly as possible, collecting from the others and opening up the basement of her gym. By her estimation, the community successfully donated five truckloads worth of items, to the point where most locations were at maximum storage capacity.

Photo by Patrick Stachniak

Photo by Patrick Stachniak

“I was raised by community so anytime I see the opportunity to help or open my hands I will,” Suero said. “We started with hot food, I got four trays of hot food then one thing led to the next and we just started like pulling in things and here we are… we have had a lot of people and businesses show up.”

Felicia Brown (left) and Janibell Suero (middle) meet in the basement of Fuerza Training SystemsPhoto by Patrick Stachniak

Suero opened her gym five years ago and plans to expand the business even further in Ridgewood. The following days after the fire, Suero and over 30 volunteers, including Katie Martin from the nearby custom tailor shop Grace Land NY, saw 13 different families visit the make-shift donation center to look through the wide variety of items that spread across multiple tables and coat racks around the room. The rafters over head shook as the lifters worked out above and neighbors who only knew each other from passing looks or conversations checked in with each other and their loved ones. Brown and her mother stopped by to pick up new clothes and food for their cat, as well as chargers and other essentials that were destroyed.

“We are very grateful to people that have donated anything, even little niche items that you might not expect. Janibell picked up a brush and I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I need one of those,'” Brown said. “Thank you… it’s been really just nice to see how much people are willing to give.”

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Council Member Jennifer Gutierrez has seen many fires like the one on Madison Street break out in District 34, and introduced a reform package known as the Back Home Act to help displaced New Yorkers by establishing the Office of Remediation, entirely dedicated to serving those who were displaced from fires, floods or other emergencies. On top of a new office, other bills included in the package ensure the Department of Housing and Preservation (HPD) provide housing in the surrounding area, mandate transparency during the repair process and puts restrictions on landlords’ then indefinite insurance to keep construction moving. The package passed in the summer of 2025 and the office has yet to become operational, so Gutierrez’s own office has been on standby to answer any questions and provide those displaced with resources.

“While we learn more in the days and weeks ahead about what caused the fires, District 34 is all to familiar with tragedies like this,” Gutierrez said. “I am in awe, but not surprised, by how the Ridgewood community has come together to support the families impacted. My office is always here to help residents navigate recovery and access the support they need.”

Assemblymember Jenifer Rajkumar’s office also began accepting donations to support victims that can be dropped off at El Manaba Restaurant at 341 St. Nicholas Ave. in Ridgewood. Other businesses that participated in the collection process include While in Kathmandu, Hades Inquisition 2, Jones Bar, Everyone Yoga, Pegs Cavalier and Willows Tavern. Mano’s Pizzeria offered free pizza to anyone displace and monetary donations via Venmo can be made to @ridgewoodneighbors, a social media community on both Facebook and Instagram, which has already received over $20,000.

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For residents like Brown and her mother, who lost their family home, the devastation cannot be understated. Brown’s father passed away in June, and as a pragmatist, was the one who ensured his family kept the folder filled with identification and other important documents on hand for such emergencies; something she hopes other families assemble as well. Though Brown understands that the apartment only contained things, and is grateful no one was killed, the pain from losing the only apartment she’s ever lived in and mementos from her father still stings.

“Everything that ever smelled like my dad or was his. I know it’s stuff, it’s replaceable, but those aspects of things are not… stuff that he touched. It’s really heartbreaking to lose,” Brown said. “Just little things you think of. You could walk into your room and grab something or go in the kitchen, so little things like that are what we miss. But definitely our last pieces of him.”

The cause of the fire is still unknown and a timeline for the building repairs has yet to be established. Those displaced can find resources on Gutierrez’s website or visit Fuerza Training Systems, as Suero stated she plans to keep the basement open until no longer needed, with any surplus donated to other local charities. Brown and her mother are in the process of moving in with family, also in Ridgewood, and other residents are still making arrangements as they stay in the hotels provided by Red Cross. Brown’s upstairs neighbors are still in search of their two cats and still hope someone has managed to find them.

Courtesy of Felicia Brown