She’s the “Angel of Howard Avenue.”
The family of a 9-year-old girl killed in a Brooklyn house fire is “broken” and trying to deal with their “new norm,” the girl’s uncle told The Post.
“This is day one after the aftermath of the fire, we’re rolling with the punches, taking the days as they come,” Joseph Thompson, 36, said Saturday outside the charred Brownsville home, which was being walled-off by workers. “Family is shocked by the blow of this tragedy, and we’re finding a way to find the new norm.”
Payton Thompson was killed early Friday when a three-alarm fire raced through her family’s three-story home. First responders rushed the unconscious child to Brookdale Hospital, but she could not be saved.
Payton Thompson, 9, died from smoke inhalation, her uncle said. Family photo via ABC7Thompson said Payton’s mom — his sister — is not doing well, noting, “We’re still trying to get her to eat, trying to get her to sleep. She’s broken, our family is broken.”
The uncle said Payton died from smoke inhalation. The fire remains under investigation, the FDNY said Saturday.
Thompson, who also lives in Brooklyn, said he was home when he received the phone call Friday and “rushed over here. I went into panic mode, I didn’t know what I could do.
The fire remains under investigation. Seth Gottfried“No parent lives with the expectation of burying their child. Our family has taken several blows. Not like this, this is the first,” Thompson said.
The heartbroken uncle, who is a chef, called Payton an “amazing young child” who loved to sing and dance — and eat. “She loved her Uncle Joe’s ribs, and she loved cornbread,” he recalled.
The cruel twist in the tragedy is Payton died on the same day her baby sister, Lauren, celebrated her first birthday.
Payton tragically died on her little sister’s first birthday. Family photo via ABC7“It was difficult. We couldn’t really celebrate her life the way we wanted to, but we’re glad that Lauren still has life. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get to celebrate. The first birthday you go big, and we just didn’t get to do that. We will though,” Thompson vowed.
A GoFundMe had raised more than $9,000 as of midday Saturday.
“We are grateful for all of the well-wishers. It’s amazing and overwhelming the amount of love that we’ve been receiving,” Thompson said.
Neighbors were terrified to witness the blaze Friday. Seth GottfriedLinda Pipkin, 50, a neighbor and life-long family friend, said community members planned to meet at a church across the street Saturday afternoon to discuss other ways to raise money for the devastated family.
“She was a happy little girl, everybody loved her,” Pipkin said. “From day one she stole everyone’s hearts. Payton is the angel of Howard Avenue. It’s a hard pill to swallow, it’s so sad.”
Said Pipkin: “They were supposed to celebrate her baby sister’s birthday, but God changed the plan.”
Payton was described as a “happy little girl.” Family photo via ABC7The stunned neighbor said she was watching TV when the fire broke out and then she heard sirens — and witnessed first responders feverishly trying to save the girl’s life.
“They was pumping her and pumping her, and ran with her down the block, pumping her, pumping. I started praying. It was like I was in [the 1999 sci-fi movie] ‘The Matrix,’” Pipkin said of the surreal series of events. “I was watching TV [when the fire started] I heard sirens, I thought it was on TV, but then it wasn’t.”
She went outside to see “the kids had nothing on, the mom was in a bra and panties, I was grabbing blankets, wrapping them up, I was moving, but it was like I wasn’t moving. It’s all just a blur now. It’s a sad day. She’s up there looking over us.”
