Sherri Park Residents: Community, Emergency Response Applauded

We interviewed residents who were displaced Thursday in a gas fire at Sherri Park Apartments. 

Many residents said they felt fortunate.

Tamar Geri, whose unit is also at the end of the building that suffered the least damage, called the fire an inconvenience. Most residents were evacuated before the fire started, and only one person suffered minor injuries.

“You start thinking about all the people that go through the trauma — even we didn’t go through the experience or trauma of a fire. This is nothing,” she said. “It gives you perspective.”

The Red Cross is offering assistance to residents, and Sherri Park has given all the displaced residents hotel accommodations and food. The Greens at Lyndhurst, a nearby assisted living facility, is helping senior residents who require extra care or who have limited mobility.

Every person interviewed applauded the response to the fire: the fire departments’ who responded, the apartment management, the Red Cross and the Lyndhurst Community Emergency Response Team — and friends, family and neighbors.

“Everyone is offering help,” said Geri. “People surprise you. There’s always a good thing when something bad happens: you see people come around you. They take care of everybody.”