City Raises 600K in Fundraising for Fire Victims

The City of Cambridge has raised more than $600,000 to help victims of last week’s devastating 10-alarm fire which displaced dozens of individuals and families.

After Saturday’s fire, in which 18 properties were damaged or destroyed and 80 families were affected, the city created the “Mayor’s Fire Relief Fund,” a GoFundMe page to provide aid to the victims. As of Sunday, the fund had accumulated more than $635,000, well-over its established $500,000 goal, with donations from over 8,000 individuals.

In a video posted on Cambridge social media accounts featuring Cambridge Mayor E. Denise Simmons and new City Manager Louis A. DePasquale, the two expressed thanks to the donors and reminded residents that more work must be done.

“Knowing Cambridge the way we both do, there’s no surprise to us that we were able to do this in such a short period of time,” DePasquale said.

“We’re also looking to see if we can identify places for our families to live,” Simmons said.

The fire devastated a portion of East Cambridge during the afternoon and evening hours of Dec. 3. Fire departments from nearby towns were rushed in to control the blaze. No very serious injuries were reported.

“We’ve never had a fire of this scale before,” Cambridge City Councillor Jan Devereux said. “I’m just incredibly proud and grateful that we have such a well trained and professional fire department. It’s an enormous credit to the Fire Chief Gerald Reardon.”

In the days since the fire, the city has been working within its power to locate the dozens of displaced individuals and families, according to Devereux.

“The city had some of its affordable inclusionary units that were vacant or about to be leased, and so they basically suspended that process,” Devereux said. “These [victims] were bumped to the top of the list if they qualified.”

According to a statement released on Friday by Cambridge Director of Communications and Community Relations Lee Gianetti, 14 families moved into permanent housing this week, while five more will receive housing at the end of the week. In addition, 37 households are still in need of permanent housing according to Gianetti’s statement.

Ensuring the families can find housing in Cambridge is essential to the city, according to Devereux.

“We’re making an effort that they can all stay in Cambridge,” Devereux said. “But even keeping them within Cambridge means they are not living near their close knit community.”

The cause of the blaze remains unknown, although the Cambridge Fire Department will continue its analysis of the site, in conjunction with the Cambridge and State Police Departments and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in the coming days.

Devereux said she was impressed with the entire city staff in the hours and days after the fire.

“Over the next several weeks I'm sure the city staff will debrief,” Devereux said. “But I don’t see how any city could have responded better than Cambridge did. That isn’t just hype.”

—Staff writer Joshua Florence can be reached at joshua.florence@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoshuaFlorence1.