Tatiana Castaneda has spent the past several days in a hotel room crying.

Support for her family — her brothers, Carlos Castillo, 24, and Marcelo Perez, 12, her mother Raquel Perez and her cat Rocket — has been minimal in the wake of a two-alarm blaze that tore through her Sunnyvale apartment complex.

The Silicon Valley Red Cross and the city were supposed to help, but Castanada said her family is caught in a quagmire, getting shuffled around repeatedly. 

“It is frustrating,” she said. “There has been no connection. It hasn’t been anything that we don’t already know ourselves … It feels like nothing is being done.”

Just before 11 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety (DPS) dispatched firefighters to an eight-apartment complex located at 1642 Kirkland Drive.

Castaneda’s family is among the two dozen residents displaced following the fire — the entirety of those living in the complex.

Upon arrival, DPS found heavy smoke and flames coming from the complex’s northeast corner. Within a few minutes of arrival, they called for backup, according to a DPS press release.

Capt. Dzanh Le, the DPS spokesperson, wrote in an email that firefighters used suppression foam to get the blaze under control.

“Foam aids in extinguishing the fire by not only cooling the fire but also depriving it of oxygen,” he wrote.

DPS believes the fire started in the complex’s rear apartments.

Flames and smoke were visible in Cupertino, nearly 3.5 miles away, according to residents.

Firefighters arrived in roughly five minutes, bringing the fire under control in under an hour, Le wrote. The two-story complex presented “significant challenges due to the size and layout of the structure,” he added.

Despite the conditions, crews contained the flames to three apartments. 

“This outcome reflects the high level of training, preparedness, and coordinated response of our fire personnel in quickly and aggressively attacking the fire,” Le wrote.

But the damage was done, leaving the three apartments where the fire raged devastated. Smoke and flames significantly damaged the remaining apartments.

While other services have been lacking, Castaneda said her brother’s principal at Cupertino Middle School, Alison Zuniga, was very helpful. Not only did Zungina call to check-in, but she also coordinated getting the family clothes and gift cards for Safeway and Target. A therapist was also onsite at the school to help her brother cope. 

An email to the Red Cross went unanswered.

Sunnyvale’s last multi-alarm fire was in August last year. The fire’s cause remains under investigation, according to the DPS press release. 

Frank Lampkin, lived across the hall from the apartment where the fire started with his wife Nicole and their children — ages six, eight, nine, 14 and 17.

He said the woman who lives there threw water on a grease fire. 

When the fire started, Lampkin said he was running errands. By the time he returned, two hours later, the fire had ravaged the building.

“We are 100% victims. I don’t have anything left,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared to be homeless. I was prepared to have dinner. I was prepared to do laundry.”

Lampkin echoed Castaneda’s sentiments about aid, calling it an “easter egg hunt.”

There were no reported injuries, according to the DPS press release.

However, a GoFundMe page started by someone named Ali Abdullahi claims that his wife and toddler are in the hospital. The page is soliciting $14,000. A message to the creator on GoFundMe went unanswered.

Several residents, like Castaneda and Lampkin, have also started GoFundMe pages. 

Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com 

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