The house that William Lambert and Gussie Briggs built on Narrow Lane in Bridgehampton in 1968 wasn’t just a house. It was a central gathering place where family members and friends convened for more than five decades. It was the home that Tony Lambert, one of their children, was powerless to save as flames tore through it overnight on Friday.
Mr. Lambert, a veteran of the Marine Corps and the Air National Guard, who has worked at the Bridgehampton Post Office for 20 years, was alerted to the fire by the house’s other residents: a family of three who lived in an apartment at the back. All five occupants, including a cousin of Mr. Lambert’s, Robierre Brown, escaped safely, but are now left homeless.
Reported at 3 a.m., the fire seemed to originate in the kitchen of one of the house’s three apartments. According to Bridgehampton Fire Department Chief Nick Hemby, firefighters worked quickly, “but heavy damage had already been done.”
The East Hampton, Sag Harbor, and Southampton Fire Departments sent crews to help. “Our firefighters extin guished the fire by the time our neighbors arrived,” Mr. Hemby said in a statement. “They assisted us with overhaul and cleanup.”
And to assist Sonia Amay, her boyfriend, Freddie Redrovan, and her daughter Paulina Bravo, in rebuilding their lives, a fund-raising effort has been set up on GoFundMe. As of yesterday, it had generated more than $9,300 in donations. It can be accessed at gofund.me/ff70c9ef.
Ms. Amay “is still a little bit in shock,” said her elder daughter, Karina Bravo, by phone on Monday. “It’s starting to sink in. She is a really strong lady, so she immediately was, like, ‘I’m healthy, that’s the most important part.’ “
It was Paulina Bravo who first noticed something wrong. From her bedroom next to the kitchen, she heard a crackling sound, said her sister. “She opened the door, and by that time the fridge was already on fire.”
“I was asleep,” Mr. Lambert recalled. “They knocked on my door and yelled ‘fire!’ I jumped up, looked outside, and said — excuse my French — ‘Oh, s***.’ ”
He is now staying at a hotel in Riverhead. His two younger children were with their mother when it happened; his two older children are already living independently. A GoFundMe page has been set up for Mr. Lambert, as well as one for his cousin, Mr. Brown.
Ms. Amay, Paulina Bravo, and Mr. Redrovan are staying temporarily with an uncle who owns a house in East Hampton, packed together in his living room.
As the Southampton Town Fire Marshal investigates the blaze, donations of clothing have rolled in for Ms. Amay and her family. The most immediate need is rent money to help them find a new place to live, her elder daughter said, acknowledging the difficulty of finding something affordable on the South Fork right now.
“She has to start over completely — furniture, appliances, even a bed,” Karina Bravo said. “Any support is welcomed. Every little bit will count.”
Mr. Lambert said he usually feels uncomfortable accepting help from others, but is grateful for the assistance his colleagues at the post office have offered. Unlike Ms. Amay and her family, he was able to salvage some of his belongings.
“My next step?” he said. “That’s a good question. At this point in time, I don’t know . . . I just keep praying to God. He’s the one that will show me the way.”
Mr. Lambert, who was once an active Bridgehampton volunteer firefighter himself, grew up in the one-story house and lived there off and on for 37 years. Ms. Amay and her family had been renting the rear apartment since 2007. The third apartment, in the basement, was unoccupied at the time of the fire.
Mr. Lambert said it seemed likely that the entire property will be condemned and the house demolished.
This story has been updated since it was first published.