EAST WINDSOR, Conn. — Family members identified the victim of the apartment fire on Church Street in East Windsor as 56-year-old Bernice Tompkins.
They gathered together outside of her home for a candlelight vigil Tuesday night.
"I love my grandma, and I really miss her, but I know I’m going to see her soon," Tompkins' granddaughter Elana Michaud said.
"We’re going to miss her smile. She had a good sense of humor. She laughed a lot. She also cried a lot. She had a heart of gold and she wore it on her sleeve so I’m going to miss that as well," Melody Solano, Tompkins' sister, said.
Tompkin’s daughter Jessica Burnett returned to the home one last time to find peace. She was saddened to think of what happened there 24 hours earlier.
"It was tragic the way this happened," she said. "Nobody really deserves to go the way all of this happened last night but I can’t thank everybody enough for coming out and the firefighters, all of them that were here last night, for trying their best to do what they can do."
Tompkins was trapped on the third floor of the building when it caught fire Monday night. Despite attempts from firefighters and a neighbor to get her out, heavy smoke and flames filled the apartment, and she was later found dead by crews.
The Broad Brook Fire Department said hoarding conditions and high winds made it challenging for firefighters to get the fire under control.
"There was no smoke detectors at all on the third floor in her apartment. There was zero and if there was smoke detectors, it may not have ended up like this," said Burnett.
Solano found peace in her last conversation with Bernice a short time ago.
"We did talk to her about accepting Jesus," she said. "Even though my sister did have a lot of suffering with addiction, in her final moments we believe that she believed and that she is with the Lord right now."
"We pray that her suffering is over and that she’s in a better place," she added.
The building is uninhabitable, at this time, so the three other families who live there have been relocated by the Red Cross.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Elisha Machado is a reporter at FOX61 News. She can be reached at emachado@fox61.com. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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