I got the word from one of their neighbors, a friendly cashier at my neighborhood supermarket: “The Allens are back in their house on 28th Street.” A couple of days later, an email arrived from a housing agency, confirming that good news.
On a Sunday in June 2023, Arthur and Adriane Allen were burned out of their home; they had no homeowners insurance to cover the cost of recovery. I wrote a column about the situation because it seemed so bleak: Not only were they without insurance, but the Allens had exhausted their savings.
The house and all its contents had been severely damaged by a fire that started in the rear of the residence during a summer drought. A Baltimore Fire Department report said the blaze possibly started in “light vegetation,” then quickly spread to a deck and the back of the house, then to a second-floor bedroom…