By Lou Michel
The Buffalo News
NORTH TONAWANDA, N.Y. — More than $52,000 has been donated to North Tonawanda’s only black firefighter after a suspicious fire damaged his family’s apartment, just days after he received a racist threatening letter that demanded he quit his fire department.
The outpouring of support for volunteer firefighter Kenneth Walker continued Thursday as FBI agents, North Tonawanda Police and state and local fire investigators tried to determine who set the Wednesday afternoon blaze and whether it was linked to the anonymous letter Walker said he received Monday.
The possibly racially motivated fire captured the nation’s attention, and people from across the country began donating.
“It’s unnecessary, but we’re grateful,” Walker said Thursday afternoon as he stood outside his burned apartment.
“We’re overwhelmed,” said Amanda Walker, his wife.
Investigators believe the fire was intentionally set shortly after noon Wednesday in the 1096 Oliver St. apartment Walker shared with his wife and their two young daughters, North Tonawanda Mayor Arthur G. Pappas said Thursday. The fire, which did not injure anyone, “appears to be of a suspicious nature,” the mayor said.
Another law enforcement source said Thursday that “no person has been ruled out” as a suspect.
Here are the latest developments in the case:
• Investigators with the North Tonawanda Police, FBI and fire investigators are still trying to determine if the fire was linked to a threatening letter that Walker said was left Monday in the mailbox of his apartment. The letter, which used racist slurs, demanded that Walker resign as a firefighter. “We’re investigating the letter and fire as being linked,” North Tonawanda Police Capt. Thomas Krantz said. “We’re not 100 percent certain that one is related to the other. But we’re investigating it as such.”
• Fire investigators told Walker’s family that the fire appeared suspicious, said Walker’s uncle. “They did tell us it appeared to start in the living room and that it was of a suspicious nature. But they didn’t say if an accelerant was involved,” said Robert Sands of Buffalo.
• The couch in Walker’s apartment was burned to the springs, according to Charles Internicola, the owner of the four-unit apartment building where Walker lived. “From the looks of it, it appears the fire started on the top of the couch. You can see the scorch marks going up the wall behind it,” Internicola said.
Police and fire authorities held no news conferences about the case on Thursday and have made no arrests.
Another volunteer firefighter, Shawn Moynihan, who said he did not know Walker, created a gofundme fundraising page on Wednesday afternoon to Benefit the Walkers. In less than 24 hours, more than $46,000 had been pledged by 1,060 people. By 5 p.m. Thursday, the total was up to $52,000. Moynihan is a volunteer with the Bergholz Fire Department.
“Nobody should ever have to go through what this man and his family are going through. It does not matter what color we are on the outside- we all bleed red,” wrote Jill S. Mailler on the gofundme page.
Walker said Wednesday on Facebook that he does not need any special treatment or a GoFundMe page, writing, “As I said before, this isn’t about being on the news or in the paper. I hate it actually. There’s no need for money, your kind words are more than enough. Thank-you.”
The couple briefly visited their burned apartment on Thursday afternoon. While they were there, North Tonawanda resident John Karcz and his two daughters showed up. Karcz had given Walker a bag of used clothing earlier in the day. He returned with his children, Anastasia, 7, and Isabella, 5, who brought their toys to donate to Walker’s two daughters.
“I raided my closet for clothes when I got home. My girls went through their playroom and picked out toys they wanted to give,” Karcz said.
“I feel happy I’m giving toys to the other children,” Anastasia Karcz said.
The Gratwick Hose Volunteer Fire Company, where Walker has been a volunteer for two years, will collect donations for Walker’s family at its hall at 110 Ward Road from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, the fire department announced.
North Tonawanda resident Sorcha Bell and her sister collected thank-you cards on Wednesday to show the Walker family support. Her husband, Dan Bell, said they took about 50 letters to Gratwick Hose to show their support.
“No member of our community should have to face racism,” said Dan Bell. “That kind of hatred doesn’t have a place in our society.”
He said Amanda Walker’s aunt works with him and told them that the Walker’s daughter, four-year-old Chloe, loves to read and lost all her books in the fire.
Bell said he wants Walker to remain a member of their community and in the fire department, “as a shining example that hate doesn’t win.”
Walker said Wednesday he did not know if he would resign as a firefighter.
Walker’s wife said the family was able to salvage some possessions from their charred apartment. “We were able to get some clothes. There was a lot of damage. There was soot on everything,” Amanda Walker said.
Some of the other tenants of the four-unit apartment building were able to return to their apartments on Thursday. But the Walkers’ apartment was damaged so badly that they will not be able to move back anytime soon, Internicola said.
“I don’t know if they’ll come back. But they are certainly welcome,” the landlord said.
The Walkers and their two young daughters were not home when the fire was discovered. Two other tenants in the four-unit building were sleeping at the time, but escaped uninjured after hearing smoke detectors blaring. Two of the Walkers’ cats died in the blaze.
Copyright 2016 The Buffalo News