It was a single moment, captured by a local photographer, after the turmoil and trauma of a fire swallowed a multi-family home in Providence and scorched the apartments of nearly 20 residents.
Michelle Cordeiro was not home when the noontime fire broke out Sunday, but came running up Elmwood Avenue as firefighters rescued eight of her neighbors from the building by walking several of them down a ladder.
Cordeiro was photographed by Matt Donovan, receiving a pink urn that contained her daughter's ashes. Cordeiro's Facebook page says 20-year-old Danielle died in March.
As Cordeiro wrote on Facebook, in a post shared by about 500 people, it appeared the urn "was the most important thing on her mind, and having it in her hands gave her at least a little relief."
According to a fire department spokesperson, after Cordeiro asked several at the scene to look for the urn, a group of firefighters went back inside the smoldering building and recovered it.