‘I WAS SCARED TO DEATH'

Tenants return traumatized, desperate - but thankful to be alive

Residents of the Bronx building where 17 people were killed in Sunday’s inferno returned to the scene on Monday to try to collect their belongings — and were staggered by the extent of the destruction.

Karen Dejesus, 54, lived on the third floor, where the fire broke out, and had to be carried from the burning Tremont building down a firetruck ladder.

She was briefly allowed to retrieve medication from her home Sunday night.

“It looks like a war zone on the third floor,” she said on Monday. “My door’s down, the wall adjacent to my apartment is broken, and all my windows are smashed.”

During the fire, “I could see the flames, and the smoke poured into my apartment,” she recalled. “You’re trapped — we have no fire escapes. I was scared to death in a burning building, not knowing if the firefighters would arrive in time.”

Another third-floor resident, Nolia Arzu, returned Monday morning rattled.

“I am good physically, but mentally, I was destroyed yesterday,” Arzu said. “I need somewhere to stay.”

Julia Fowler, 45, who lived on the ninth floor, is now staying at friend’s nearby apartment with her family.

“I can’t stop thinking about when they were bringing the bodies out of the building,” she said. “Watching EMS work on the babies is something I will never forget.”

‘All you saw was kindness’

Renee Howard, a 30-year resident of the 19story building, escaped the blaze with her son and godson.

“You couldn’t see your way out,” she said. “A firefighter who knocked on my door . . . He startled me because it was black outside. Hallways with no lights. He had these gorgeous blue eyes, and all you saw was kindness coming from within.”

Howard lived on the 19th floor and said the firefighter had taken the stairs up.

“He banged on the door and said, ‘Is everybody OK?’ ” recalled Howard, who spoke on Monday with NYPD Chaplain Robert Rice and the department’s community-affairs chief, Jeff Maddrey, about her experience.

Johanna Bellevue, 34, a good Samaritan, arrived at the building Monday morning with bags full of donations, including baby clothes, baby formula and jackets.

“It’s a new year, and there’s already a pandemic going on, so it’s so much for these people to lose their homes as well,” she said. “I have come here to donate whatever I can, which is not much, but it’s what I can do to help.”

Giving Friends, a Bronx charity, pledged to donate hundreds of coats, hats, gloves, personal-care items and other necessities to victims.

Shanequa Charles, executive director of Miss Abbie’s Kids, one of the groups helping survivors, noted the fire’s severe mental toll.

“The residents are hurt. They’re traumatized. They’re devastated. A lot of people have

lost, if it wasn’t a loved one directly related to them, it was a neighbor on their floor, a child their child went to school with,” she said.

‘On the radar of entire globe’

Burial funds are among the services Charles’ organization is providing.

“Bronx is the lowest-performing county of all 62 in New York state. We’re talking about people who are not making more than $17,000 a year,” she said. “The majority of people don’t have life insurance. They are not even taught about the value of life insurance. They need to . . . be able to rebuild and have a quiet moment with their thoughts.”

Monroe College opened doors at its Bronx campus as an emergency-response center on Monday, connecting survivors to city agencies, the Red Cross and other social-service agencies. Neighbors dropped off clothes, food, tampons and water bottles for them.

Mayor Adams said at a press briefing Monday that President Biden had phoned him moments earlier to offer federal support.

“He has made it clear that whatever we need, the White House is going to be there for us,” Adams said. “He has sent us a very strong message that this is on the radar of the entire globe, what has happened here.”

The White House confirmed that Biden had spoken with Adams “to express his heartfelt condolences and offer support.”

Gov. Hochul vowed Sunday that her budget would include compensation for victims.

Kemar Richards, 22, who lived with her mother and aunt on the seventh floor, was still grappling with the horror.

“I heard people screaming, ‘Help!’ and went into the hallway — it looked like midnight,” she said. “A lady with her baby was screaming and wanted to stay inside the building since she was scared to come down, and I told her no.”

Richards, her mom and aunt were left effectively homeless by the tragedy.

“We can’t go inside,” she said. “I don’t have anything left.”