First responders reflect on anniversary of Four Winds apartment fire

FALL RIVER, Mass. (WLNE) – This New Year’s Day marks one year since the devastating apartment fire at Four Winds in Fall River that left two women dead and 80 people displaced from their homes.

The fire broke out just before 10 a.m. on January 1, 2019, after a car crashed into the apartment building, killing the two women inside the vehicle. The building had around 80 residents living inside, all who got out safely but without a place to live.

The building was torn down, deemed a total loss. The site is now an empty plot of land.

On the anniversary of the fire, first responders took time to reflect on the day they said will stick with them forever.

“It’s hard to believe that it has been a year that’s gone by already,” said Patti Aguiar of the Fall River Fire Department’s Special Services Unit.

Aguiar along with her husband, Richard, lead the team and were some of the first on the scene. Her husband tasked her with making sure all residents were accounted for. She said it was a difficult job amidst the chaos.

The Special Services Unit spent about 20 hours on the scene, helping residents and going above and beyond their responsibility. They’re usually tending to the needs of firefighters, but at Four Winds they consoled residents as they watched their possessions go up in flames.

“In the blink of an eye everything that they had is now gone, so it was very devastating for a lot of them,” said Aguiar.

Some even shielded the bodies of the deceased from onlookers.

“A year later I still think about it, I can still see them,” said volunteer Victor Farias.

The unpaid volunteers served as heroes behind the scenes of a nightmare where the memories are still haunting.

“It’ll always be with me till the day I die, so, that’s one fire that again I’ll never forget,” added Farias.

The residents gathered at the site Wednesday morning at 9:40 a.m., the time the fire started, to reflect.

© WLNE-TV 2019