{"id":88365,"date":"2026-01-03T22:19:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/88365\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T22:19:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T22:19:12","slug":"community-rallies-around-staten-island-family-who-lost-their-apartment-in-post-christmas-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/88365\/","title":{"rendered":"Community rallies around Staten Island family who lost their apartment in post-Christmas fire"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The Staten Island community is rallying around a Castleton Corners family who lost their home just hours after spending a merry Christmas evening with relatives.<\/p>\n

Lisa Lauria and her son were sleeping in their apartment on Hodges Place when a fire broke out in their backyard<\/a> around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 26. It was Lauria\u2019s husband, Rodger, who first heard noises coming from outside and saw the flames leaping at the windows.<\/p>\n

Rodger had been showering, but at the realization of what was unfolding, ran to secure his wife and their 9-year-old son, whose room was at the rear of the house close to the growing fire.<\/p>\n

\"HodgesA home on Hodges Place in Castleton Corners was heavily damaged during an early morning fire on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025.(Owen Reiter for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

While the origins of the fire remain unknown, it is believed to have begun in the family\u2019s shed where they store holiday decorations, patio furniture and toys.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the shed was like almost right up against the house. So yeah, the first room is Anthony\u2019s room, the flames are like coming in the window his bunk bed was right there,\u201d Lauria, a teacher, said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough to even think about it, but if my husband hadn\u2019t gotten out of the shower and seen it, it could have been a very terrible night.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re definitely struggling in terms of the house and everything, but, you know, we thank God for our safety especially for my son,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"LisaLisa Lauria (right), her son, Anthony (middle) and husband, Rodger (left) lost their Castleton Corners home in a fire on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025.(Courtesy of Lisa Lauria)<\/p>\n

Lauria and her family, as well as a family upstairs, were all able to escape the fire physically unscathed, according to her.<\/p>\n

Anthony\u2019s bedroom suffered \u201cterrible destruction\u201d from the fire and the other bedroom sustained significant damage from the emergency response.<\/p>\n

The apartment\u2019s windows were shattered, the ceiling was broken and water damage extends throughout. According to Lauria, the family upstairs suffered much of the same.<\/p>\n

\"HodgesA home on Hodges Place in Castleton Corners was heavily damaged during an early morning fire on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025.(Owen Reiter for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

Photos from the scene in the wake of the fire show belongings from inside the apartments piled up outside. Inside, walls were melted, a decorated Christmas tree laid on its side, doors removed from their hinges rested against the wall and boards covered holes where windows once were.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had such a wonderful Christmas together, you know just sucks that it turned out this way,\u201d Lauria told the Advance\/SILive.com.<\/p>\n

As of Friday, the family was being put up in a hotel by the Red Cross; however, there are plans to move in with relatives once they can no longer stay at the hotel.<\/p>\n

\"HodgesA home on Hodges Place in Castleton Corners was heavily damaged during an early morning fire on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025.(Owen Reiter for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

While the family lost many of their belongings and the roof over their head, there is some good news to be found in this heartbreaking ordeal.<\/p>\n

Lauria\u2019s aunt, Rosie Larstanna, a Westerleigh resident, organized a GoFundMe for the family<\/a> in the aftermath of the blaze. As of Saturday afternoon, this fundraiser has generated over $5,200 of its $6,500 goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you think of what could have been \u2014 I\u2019m sorry, I just get so emotional, you know like, we could have been doing a funeral instead of trying to help them get back on their feet, you know? Just so absolutely grateful to anyone and everyone that donated,\u201d Larstanna said.<\/p>\n

\"HodgesA home on Hodges Place in Castleton Corners was heavily damaged during an early morning fire on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025.(Owen Reiter for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n

She also expressed sincere gratitude to those that extended prayers to her niece\u2019s family. Lauria shared that same spirit of gratitude to those supporting her family in their time of need.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very thankful to all of our friends, family, neighbors, even strangers who have helped us at this time,\u201d Lauria said. \u201cIt\u2019s overwhelming to see everyone\u2019s generosity.\u201d<\/p>\n

To donate to the GoFundMe, visit https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/support-for-lisa-laurias-family-after-the-fire<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"HodgesA home on Hodges Place in Castleton Corners was heavily damaged during an early morning fire on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025.(Owen Reiter for the Advance\/SILive.com)\"HodgesA home on Hodges Place in Castleton Corners was heavily damaged during an early morning fire on Friday, Dec. 26, 2025.(Owen Reiter for the Advance\/SILive.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 The Staten Island community is rallying around a Castleton Corners family who lost their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88366,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":{"0":"post-88365","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-staten-island","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-staten-island","12":"tag-staten-island-headlines","13":"tag-staten-island-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88365","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88365"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88365\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88366"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88365"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88365"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88365"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}