Antonio: I mean, after the fire, I think the building was demolished, if I’m not mistaken. They only kept, I think they might have just kept the one next door. I think the one they got demolished was the one I lived in. The other one, it just eventually, once they sold the whole property, the furniture store and everything. Some developer bought the whole property because there used to be a ballpark, a little park where I used to live at. They were basketball courts and a little field that they had.

Interviewer: How old were you at the tie of the fire?

I believe I was ten years old, either nine or ten years old. On Saturdays and Sunday me and my neighbor that lived downstairs, I forgot his name, he lived on the first floor, we used to go to Shoprite. So we would go to Shoprite early in the morning. We’ll set up like we’ll bag up at the end of the line and help people, you know, bag up their groceries, hoping for some tips. Walk with them and take it to their cars and stuff. And that’s how we did our days. Just to get some change into our pocket, and we go out and play video games with the change, or go to a place called Savelli”s. It used to be an old supermarket on Adam streets. I got up early to go, but I was like, nah I’m not going or whatever the case may be. The next thing you know, we hear fire. So my mother opens the door and so I’m looking oh shit, fire. We all start getting together, my brother, my dad and we all started heading to the fire escape. Next thing you know we were gonna go down. The flames was so much it was coming up, the smoke, so we didn’t know which way to go. So next thing you know, my dad is already at the roof. My brother’s at the roof, and then it was just me, my mother, my other brother, Efrain, and we’re still at the fire escape, trapped by the smoke. We don’t know which way to go, because people telling us, go up, go down, you know, back and forth. Next thing you know, my mom’s nowhere near me, my brother’s nowhere near me. And I tried to make my way up, I had people saying, go down. I feel flames on my back. That’s what made me jump out the fire escape. I jumped on the fourth floor. When I jumped off, I jumped onto a fireman’s arm. Don’t even know who was the fireman to this day. All I know, I wind up on top, well he caught me, I guess I hit his helmet, got my nose. All I remember was just bleeding a lot through my nose, and, you know, my back burn and stuff like that. They carried me into the ambulance, and then I’m at St Mary’s Hospital. That building was equipped with pull station. They didn’t even function because I pulled it myself and it didn’t even go off. I fractured my leg, burned my back, my arm still got the scar in my arm, still got some scars in my probably my back and I got in my arm like the light shade. Used a lot of cocoa butter as a kid to try to, you know, for the marks to go away, but they still did some shadows and stuff like that. When I was in the hospital for a long time, you know, at least, probably more than a month. Yeah, was a kid, all you could hear was about oh there was a fire here. You hear the rumors in the neighborhood. I guess the Red Cross gave us some shelter down on Tonnelle Avenue. we stayed at a hotel, then we wind up staying in family’s house. I stood at one with my aunt for a couple, my mom stood with her mother for a couple in Brooklyn, and my brother’s stood in Brooklyn. The whole family just stood in families, you know, until eventually my mother and dad was able to find an apartment. Oh, it took a while. It wasn’t, you know, who knows how long it took would have probably been within two or three months before we all got back together. My mom’s trying to apply for the housing. We never got no help. You know, from the housing, you know, we, we should have been accommodated. You know, from a big fire, it should have been no, no exception, the way Hoboken ran, you know, they were kind of funny over there. My cousin (Juan Garcia) tried to hook us, try to get us in there. He was a nonprofit. He was running CUNA. That was on I think ninth and Willow or tenth and Willow. It was a nonprofit that helped the Hispanics and anybody that needed help. The housing did nothing for my mother. My mother tried for so many years. Applying and applying, reapplying. And it got to the point my mother didn’t even want it no more. Like, how can you (pause) how can you, how can you make too much money working in a factory trying to support five kids? Just it makes no sense there at all. It makes no sense.

Interviewer: Do you ever talk about the fire with your family?

Antonio: I don’t technically talk about it to my kid, like that, or my wife. I mean, they know about it. You know, with the bruises that I jumped out of a fourth floor when I was a kid and stuff like that. And I told my son, look, I jumped out, you know, when he got here, you know. I mean, because I told him, you know, when I jumped out, I was on crutches, you know, and then I wind up playing baseball on crutches, because I used to limp playing baseball. I used to limp running to first base. So that’s how I kind of healed myself a little quicker.

[Antonio’s son Gabriel, is an athlete. He was hit by a car and broke his femur.]

Once the summer’s over he’s (Gabriel) got football, high school football. Yea, he’s a tough kid, I got to give it to him. Even the coaches at football said it. Last game of season, they fuck’in hugged him, I’m glad you didn’t quit on us. We don’t know where our season would have been at.