Mother’s Day ended horribly for Wanda Marrero after a fire in a troubled Norwood area apartment building left her and her family homeless.

“I remember smelling smoke, and my daughter telling me ‘Mami, there’s smoke coming in the house!’ When I looked there was smoke in my living room,” said Marrero, as she sat on the stoop of the building she once called home, several days after the fire. “I got all the kids and ran outside.”

According to the Fire Department, the blaze began in the vacant apartment next door to Marrero’s, and proceeded to take out the entire fourth floor of the eight-unit building. The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

The roof was seriously damaged, but no one was hurt. Only four apartments in the building are now occupied.

Like a growing number of Bronx buildings, Marrero’s building, 3047 Hull Avenue, is currently in foreclosure and does not have a working super on the premises.  It has been under the supervision of a court ordered receiver, Jacqueline A. Cara, for a year and a half.

“All apartments have sustained water damage and will have to undergo remediation before any physical repairs can take place,” said Cara, adding that steps are being taken to secure the building

Housing advocates say that under the temporary supervision of receivers, many buildings are not receiving the proper care and maintenance they deserve.

Marrero’s building has 268 open code violations, according to the online records of the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD). The violations include rodent infestation, the presence of lead-based paint and moldy walls.

Several violations, such as discolored paint and broken glass in the building’s entrance, came in the aftermath of the fire.

According to Cara, the building was abandoned by the landlord and handed to her without any documentation.

“We are basically just trying to pick up the pieces,” said Cara. “My job is to maintain the building status quo for the bank could continue to receive some sort of payment for this property.”

The building is now being maintained by a management agency, which Cara said is responsible for performing repairs. Tenants must first contact her about repairs and then she contacts the management agency, Cara said.

The Red Cross, which responded to the fire, has placed Marrero and her family in the Bronx Park Hotel for the time being.

“Everything was destroyed. All our clothes are damaged. The cabinets that were filled with food are gone,” Marrero said. “I had to get a letter from Red Cross so my kids could be excused from school because we don’t have anything.”

Usually, after spending a week  in their care, the Red Cross would refer families who are victims of such disasters to the HPD’s Emergency Housing Response Team for placement in a shelter. Due to high capacity levels in these shelters, HPD said that Marrero and her family have been granted an extension with the Red Cross.