Ferraro's Fire Victim Details Escape

Asleep in his apartment three floors above Elm Street just after 12 a.m. Thursday, Denis Kelly awoke to fire alarms, not knowing how his life was about to drastically change.

“I was in the deepest sleep possible,” he said. “When I woke up I thought it was part of a dream.”

Kelly quickly realized that it wasn’t a dream, when he started hearing his downstairs neighbor, Gladys Alayon, screaming “fire” and calling his name, telling him he had to get out quickly, that .

Barely dressed, Kelly hurriedly threw on a pair of exercise shorts, socks and sneakers, grabbed his phone, keys and wallet and then his two yorkies. Exiting to the hallway, he saw smoke, but didn’t know what was coming as he descended closer to the fire’s origin.

“The initial floor was not so tough,” he said. “The floor below was very thick smoke. That’s when I started coughing through the smoke.”

Escaping to Elm Street, Kelly continued running, stopping only after he had reached the Eileen Fisher storefront across the street. Looking back at the blaze, which would eventually be elevated to a six-alarm fire, "I could not stop coughing," Kelly said.

EMTs transported Kelly to Overlook Hospital in Summit, where he was treated for minor smoke inhalation. Alayon’s brother, Edward Torres, who had run back inside the burning building to save his German Shepherd-Collie, was also transported by ambulance to the hospital. Both residents were released that morning, and returned to downtown Westfield only two hours after they had left.

There, as the building smoldered, Kelly and Alayon watched as arson investigators began to assess the damage, and learned that the Westfield Inn on South Avenue was offering free rooms to residents displaced by the fire. 

Kelly, however, could not sleep, he said. Until Saturday night, when he finally slept from sheer exhaustion, his mind raced, reviewing all that he needed to do over the coming days, and wondering what he had lost in the fire. 

He found at least a partial answer Friday, when he was admitted to his apartment.

“Everything is completely gone,” Kelly said. “The windows are smashed. The furniture is smashed. There are ceiling tiles gone and part of the roof is gone. There is black on everything.”

In addition to the Westfield Inn, other stores have come together to help the fire victims. The Westfield Running Company has distributed free clothes and sneakers, Casa di Pizza has offered free food and State Farm Insurance, which lost its corner office to the fire Thursday, has provided free clothing and other assistance. 

“It’s the only thing to do,” Sebastian Cupo, of Casa di Pizza, said. “People were affected. We are local and we like working with the community.”

“It has helped 1,000-fold,” Kelly said. “In the big picture, there is tons more to do. There is no way I can thank them for what they did.”

Individual residents have also contributed. In the lobby of the Westfield Inn, strangers have left dog food and dishes, leashes, clothing and other items.

Kelly said he has found an apartment above a store on Elm Street, but noted that the Alayon family is still looking for a more permanent place to stay. 

“Maybe someone knows what direction for them to go in,” he said. “So far social services has not been helpful.”

As for himself, Kelly said his first goal is simply moving to his new apartment, then trying to settle in.

“I’ll be moving to an empty place and starting from scratch,” he said, noting his furniture and electronics were destroyed. “I’m hoping that friends and family can help out.”