Riverhead, New York-For a Riverhead man and his fiancee, it started as an ordinary night. A raging fire engulfed his historic Long Island home where he had lived for 15 years, resulting in a family of five. Mouth killed.

Keith Polchies said he and his fiancee Cindy Wilson were watching a movie that ended around 10pm

"I always walk my dog ​​Zeus before going to bed," Polchies said.

When he came back 10 minutes later, Polchies said that soon after he went upstairs, he smelled smoke. Although the details were vague in the ensuing panic, Polchies said he was told that his second-floor neighbor Adam Starsiak and his mother Lori lived in the front apartment, and he shouted, "It's on fire!"

Polchies jumped out of his apartment and rushed to the fire extinguisher.

"But the fire was not extinguished," he said. "It's huge."

Polchies screamed at Cindy and told her they had to go out, there was no time. Polchies said that he only wore shorts and a T-shirt, not shoes. Cindy put on clothes, ran down the stairs with their dog, and frantically called the landlord and landlord on the first floor to also go out.

Polchies said that he had been screaming with his lungs all the time, yelling "It's on fire!" But his five neighbors upstairs never came down. He said he never even walked out of their door to see what happened.

Those killed in the fire were 41-year-old Zonia Dinora Rivera Mendoza, 25-year-old Carlos Alberto Ramos Aguirre, 25-year-old Carlos Cífrelo Penate Rivera-Carlos died the day after his 25th birthday-16-year-old Andrea Isamar Gonzalez Rivera and Douglas Edgardo Rivera Aguirre, a mother, daughter, son and two nephews are missing.

Polchies said he felt very painful for their deaths. "Why can't I save them?" he said. "If only I could climb to the third floor."

But there is no time to do anything, because hell passes through this 100-year-old wooden structure.

"When Cindy and I came out, the whole house was on fire," he said.

Polchies wanted to know why his neighbors didn't come out, maybe the language barrier prevented them from realizing that he was screaming and catching fire. Hypothetical scenario: Just this week, when he was working in Flanders’ childhood family home, where he and Cindy now live, he stopped, emotional and tearful, thinking of his dead family.

He said that he heard their screams in the dark and cold night.

Polchies said he was staring at the window of the building he called home that was destroyed by the fire for more than a decade. "This is devastating."

Although first responders prepared warm blankets in the ambulance, Polkis said he could not sit; he watched in horror as the building burned and his world collapsed.

"I remember thinking,'I will be homeless,'" he said. "I never thought that something like this would happen."

Since then, Polchies has kept in touch with old friends of the Starsiaks family. He said that he found the apartment in their house. He plans to re-establish contact with them soon; now, the mother and son live in a hotel.

Polchies said that through the goodwill of his family, he and Cindy were not homeless: the fire brought his family together because they immediately provided him with the home where his deceased mother lived. His home served as a safe haven after the fire. .

Polchies ran out with nothing; Wilson only grabbed her phone. He said that in the ruins of the burned house are the memories of the years that constitute life.

After the fire broke out, he went back and tried to salvage something from the rubble, but found nothing in his apartment. However, he was able to find some important items for his neighbors, what he was able to return to them-in the face of unimaginable loss, it was a small pity.

Back to the house-this historic house used to be so beautiful, Polchies said he has always admired the house and hoped to live there a few years before he moved in-Polchies said that part of the back of the house has collapsed ,collapsed. He saw a TV set fall into his apartment from above. He said that an additional refrigerator was found in the other apartment below.

Years of memory are intertwined in the magnificent Victorian summer night, spent on the spacious porch. He said that it took a few days to decorate the house for Christmas.

He lost everything, Polchies said: photos, the ashes of his former dog, all his clothes and belongings. He said that he also lost the card he had saved when he woke up from his mother.

But despite losing everything, Polchies said that a miracle happened: when he and Cindy came to his childhood home, he used to live with his mother, and the first thing he saw was the same at a mother’s funeral. A copy of a card.

He believed that this was a sign that she was watching him that night. His original intention was for some reason, he didn't even know to survive and continue to live a life full of meaning.

He was very grateful, Polchies said. Many things may be different. Just the night before, he went to bed at 8 o'clock in the evening and was tired after get off work, not 10 o'clock in the evening, because he planned to be the night when the fire broke out.

"What if I go to bed at 8pm? What if I don't walk the dog? What if Cindy doesn't want to watch the movie?" he asked.

Polkis said the fire changed him. "I'm so grateful. Thanks to my mother for taking care of us. Thanks to Cindy for wanting to watch the movie. Thanks to my dog ​​because I walked it at the right time that night."

And, he said, he is forever grateful for the incredible generosity and love of the community.

When he finished the renovation of the house where the couple now live in Flanders and life returned to normal again, Polchies had a plan. He is full of new spirituality and wants to help others. He wanted to continue the same incredible kindness he was given.

"I want to pay in advance," Polchies said. "I got a second chance-I don't want to waste a minute."

According to Suffolk County Police, responders arrived at the scene within one minute of calling 911 at 10:38 pm.

The police said that Suffolk detectives had talked with the law enforcement in Riverhead, and they said they believed the apartments were legal, but said they would investigate.

The police stated that smoking was a potential cause of the fire, "but there are many factors under investigation, all of which are accidental."

When asked about the smoke detectors, Suffolk County Police Detective Lieutenant Kevin Byler stated that they were unable to determine whether there were any smoke detectors, but at present, "there is no indication that any detectors are present or extinguished."

Yvette Aguiar, the director of Riverhead Township, told Patch that the house was a legal, owner-occupied four-family home. In recent months, law enforcement agencies have visited the house eight times and made two phone calls to try to renew the town’s lease agreement; she said that once the lease agreement is renewed, new inspections are required.

She said the landlord was subsequently cited in October for failing to renew the lease agreement — adding that the agreement expired during the 2020 pandemic.

The building owner could not be immediately reached for comment.

This residence has important historical significance in Riverhead. According to the records of the town of Riverhead, this three-story Victorian cross-gable house was built around 1905 and features towers and Tuscan columns. The house is called the Price Northridge House and was originally designed by William Sidney Jones for Brooklyn lawyer Augusta Price.

The GoFundMe page "Help Rivera’s Family Rest in Peace" was created by Riverhead’s Kristen Leonard (Kristen Leonard) to benefit Leonel Rivera (Leonel Rivera), who has confirmed his family’s The identity of the deceased and help them transport the body back to Guatemala, this is their final resting place. place.

Another GoFundMe, to help my family stand up again, aims to provide support to the Starsiak family.

To help Polchies and Wilson stand up again, we created a Venmo account @Cindy-Wilson-282.