Community Rallies to Help Sag Harbor Fire Victims

Community members have donated more than $57,000 to help a Sag Harbor family that lost their home in a fire about a week before Christmas.

Sag Harbor Fire Department firefighters responded to the blaze on Saturday, December 17, which left the home gutted before the flames were extinguished, officials said.

The family is “in need of funds for daily living expenses as they navigate through the coming year,” Olivia Kotz wrote in a GoFundMe campaign that exceeded its goal of raising $50,000 to help.

Residents of the home included Thierry Balihuta, the director of operations for the Sag Harbor Cinema, his brother Didier Irabizi, and their parents, Stony Brook Southampton Hospital employee Agnès Mujawayezu and Faustin Nsabumukunzi, who owns a landscaping business.

Gift cards and cash donations will be used by the family to pay for daily living expenses such as gas and toiletries until they get back on their feet.

To donate visit gofundme.com/f/please-help-thierry-didier-and-family-recover