ADVERTISEMENTSkip

................................................................

Keaty said Red Cross volunteers were called to the fire after it started, and they arrived to find a chaotic scene at the Central Avenue location, just west of San Mateo. Firefighters battled the flames for hours, and at the end of it the building was uninhabitable, according to fire officials.

Volunteers gave many of the residents cash cards so they could buy a meal Tuesday and set some of them up in other nearby hotels.

Many of them lost everything they owned, and don’t have insurance to replace any of it, Keaty said.

“What are they going to do? They’re really homeless,” he said. “It’s a pretty substantial burden for the city all the sudden, it’s like wow, probably 55 families don’t have somewhere to go.”

So volunteers decided to set up the shelter. People were trickling in Tuesday, and while volunteers were not sure how many would eventually show up, they were prepared for a crowd, if necessary.

Church volunteers will cook them breakfast and lunch, and three dorms and playroom for children were set up for the families, according to Keaty.

“It’s a temporary fix to help people get over that hump for a couple days,” Keaty said. “Anytime America has a disaster it’s the American way to step up and help out. And people in Albuquerque are doing that.”