Blind woman escapes flames of burning Newark home, dog rescued

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NEWARK, Calif. (KRON) — A fire at a home in Newark this morning displaced four people. Thankfully, everyone survived. The Red Cross responded to help those now without a home.

One of the people displaced is a woman who is legally blind. She got out of the fire with nothing but the clothes on her back. She’s now scrambling to figure out the next steps.

“It was everything I had was in there,” she said.

In tears and covered in soot, Stephanie Andrade is one of four people who are now without a home after a fire erupted inside their Newark house. Andrade woke up to the flames Sunday morning.

“It was popping and all the way up to the roof within 10 seconds it was all engulfed,” Andrade said.

Andrade says she’s grateful to be alive. She’s legally blind, so her boyfriend and caregiver pulled her out of the flames.

“He has burns on him,” Andrade said about her boyfriend who rescued her. “He literally dragged me out — barely made it out the door because the door opens inward. So we were trapped behind the door.”

Her dog Daisy also barely made it out.

“Thank God she made it out. I don’t even know how I’m going to feed her,” Andrade said.

Alameda County Fire responded to the fire at the single-family home on Thorton Avenue around 10 a.m. Fire crews got it under control within 20 minutes stopping it from spreading to neighboring homes.

However, four people who rent rooms inside the affected house, including Andrade, are left to pick up the pieces. She says she regularly brings donations to the unhoused in San Francisco and never thought she’d be the one needing help.

“I don’t know how I’m going to replace anything. My phone. My clothes. My ID,” Andrade said. “Everything was in there. I don’t even know where I’m going to stay tonight to be honest.”

The Red Cross responded to offer services and aid.

On top of figuring out how to replace everything and where to go, Andrade says she worries about what’s left of her eyesight from smoke damage.

“I can see maybe half on this side and not at all on this side. I was supposed to have another surgery and with the smoke, I don’t know if it’s going to take. This was my last shot with the surgery, so I might not be able to see ever again at all,” Andrade said with tears falling down her face.

Alameda County Fire officials say the cause of the fire is under investigation. Andrade is hoping to stay in a nearby hotel temporarily as she figures out a more permanent home.

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Sara Stinson

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