Displaced residents from West St. fire in Worcester looking for new start WORCESTER - Fernando Morales left his West Street apartment to go to a nearby convenience store Tuesday night, and when he returned about five minutes later, the building he shares with his girlfriend, Maria Paredes, and their dog, Buddy, was in flames. Out of work, and now displaced by fire, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Morales agreed that things couldn't be worse. "It's so tough, man," Morales said Wednesday morning, as he looked down, lamenting about the loss of his medications. "I've never seen myself like this."