Community fundraisers support families displaced by Lawrenceville fire
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Bryn Young had left her mother’s house in Lawrenceville only 30 minutes earlier when she got a call from her sister.
The house is on fire, she said, and panic immediately set in.
Young, 20, heard what sounded like an explosion over the receiver.
The fire destroyed three homes in Upper Lawrenceville on the evening of April 21, killing two dogs and a cat and displacing multiple families. The houses are only a few feet apart, and Pittsburgh Public Safety officials said windy conditions and heavy smoke complicated first responders’ efforts to put out the blaze. The Pittsburgh Bureau’s Fire Investigation Unit, which includes police detectives and fire investigators, are investigating the cause of the fire.
After the call, Young raced over to the house as fast as she could. She said her mother, Jamie Accamando, escaped just seconds before the doorway collapsed above her. Her 14-year-old sister, whom she said never cries, was sobbing. Her 9-year-old stepsister seemed unable to cry at all, stoic with shock.
“I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t,” Young said, after watching all of her childhood memories disintegrate before her eyes.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined by the Fire Investigations Unit, but the families displaced have spent the last week scrambling to find shelter, clothing and food. Several GoFundMe pages and a Facebook fundraiser have been established, raising nearly $50,000 in total.
One of the families included Merranda Highfield, the daughter of two adults also displaced by the fire. According to a GoFundMe page established on their behalf, Highfield is expecting a child in May with fiance Justin Stokes. They had held a baby shower earlier this year, but all of the gifts were destroyed in the fire.
Young, who grew up with Highfield, said the GoFundMe page had garnered so many donations and baby supplies that they’re no longer accepting any more. Highfield herself started a fundraiser on Facebook to benefit her parents, which raised more than $23,000 as of Monday afternoon.
Highfield could not be reached for comment. On the page of her Facebook fundraiser, she wrote that the money will be used to buy clothes and shoes, as well as a new house for her parents.
Young said she’s been amazed and grateful for the amount of community support following the fire.
“The community really came to us,” she said.
Still, dealing with all that has been lost has been surreal, Young said. Her family is still taking each day in stride, trying to come up with a plan to move forward.
Accamando bought the house when she was 23. Young lived there from the time she was around 5 years old until she moved to Highland Park around a year and a half ago.
“After 13 years of celebrating birthdays, graduations, school promotions and game championships in that house, we lost everything we have ever worked for,” Accamando wrote on her own GoFundMe page, which she started over the weekend.
Now, Young said her mother, sister, stepfather and stepsister are all staying with her and her boyfriend in Highland Park. It is a relief to have everyone under one roof, safe, but the situation is precarious.
“For them, I don’t think there will ever be a comfort,” Young said. “That’s all my sisters have ever known, and all my mom has worked for.”
Young’s lease will expire in month, leaving all six residents in need of shelter. Young’s sisters, who were already struggling to complete their schoolwork under Pittsburgh Public Schools’ distance learning program during the school shutdown, must now all share Young’s laptop — which Young must also use to finish her sophomore year at Carlow University.
Young created a GoFundMe last week to try to help her family rebuild. So far, the page has raised more than $13,000, every dollar of which will be used on a down payment for a new house, Young said. Accamando’s page has also raised about $350. Young said she is hoping to raise enough money to have a home for her family before the next school year begins.