The Block has suffered a great loss this month. The big fire at 46 College has cost the owners, neighbors and mostly the displaced residents a significant loss. This fire also brought back memories of the fire at Jack Hoppus’ home at 57 College more than 10 years ago – like it was yesterday - for those of us who were here.

The good news is that there was no death or injury in this fire. What people say is true – “Things can be replaced, but people can’t.” The other good news is that the fire was contained and did not spread to other houses (including ours – 10 feet away!). We owe a debt of gratitude to the many firefighters (who changed shifts twice during the night) for saving the adjacent houses from significant damage. I want to invite some of them to our Annual meeting this year for a tribute of their great work! Part of the NCBC Board efforts will be to give assistance to the displaced residents. We are planning to send gift cards as well as arranging donations to help them start in new apartments.

Also, we plan on starting a ‘Renters Insurance Awareness Program’ for all renters in the block. More to come on that later.

See you next month & stay warm!