House fire leaves Sarasota couple with a suitcase of possessions as they try to move on
Andrea and Scott stood in front of their three-bedroom two-bathroom house. The acrid smell of smoke wafted up their noses.
“You kind of feel like your whole life went up in smoke because – well, it did – all our plans, for retirement, financial security – everything out the window,” Andrea said.
On June 30, firefighters responded to a report of smoke in their home. They would face the total loss of their dream home after a second fire started just hours after the responders left. All that was left was a handful of possessions. They've moved into a rental home and are slowly trying to pick up the pieces from the financial blow. Their daughter has created a GoFundMe to support the couple as they try to move on and regain footing.
As the couple walked around the side of their house, their large open windows that looked into a spacious kitchen and living area are now boarded up by plywood. Charcoaled pieces of their home crunched at the bottom of their feet.
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“I really enjoyed it while we were here. I'm very, very fortunate,” Andrea said.
They called 911 at 7:09 p.m. to report the smell of smoke in their home after an intense lightning strike around 4:15 p.m. Scott was home alone, and he said it was the closest he’s ever felt to lightning. When Andrea came home after work, she thought Scott had burnt his lunch in the toaster oven at first.
The couple looked around and found a smokey haze in their attic above their garage. That's when they called 911.
No smoke alarms were going off, and they couldn’t see any fire. Just a smell. Firefighters who came to the scene used thermography to find the hot spot to figure out where it was because they also couldn’t see anything, but they smelled it right away.
They cut out a part of the ceiling in the garage and found insulation that was smoldering. They put out that fire and carried buckets of burnt insulation from their home.
Firefighters spent over two hours looking for hot spots and removing burnt insulation. They assured the couple that the fire was out, but they suggested that they didn’t sleep there because of the air quality and because the power was still out.
A few hours later, their dream home and most of their possessions would be incinerated.
The family grabbed an overnight bag filled with their toothbrushes and a change of clothes, then went to their sister’s house 10-15 minutes away where Andrea’s mother was staying.
The couple was upset, but they went to bed and decided they’ll just call insurance in the morning to take care of the hole in their garage ceiling.
A little after midnight, the couple received a terrifying call from the Sheriff’s Office asking to identify themselves. They were told to head over to the property immediately. Their house was on fire.
When they arrived at the house, there were 20-foot flames singing their beloved backyard bamboo trees.
All of their neighbors were on the street watching the firefighters try to mitigate the flames, but by the time firefighters returned, they were only able to fight the fire from the outside, as the flames quickly enveloped the home, causing the roof to partially cave in.
The master bedroom and bathroom were the only rooms remaining, as the fire moved right to left. The house was considered a total loss by insurance.
Scott is a gardener and a lot of his propagated plants perished in the flame. The plants they could salvage, they’re taking to Andrea’s sister’s house as they stay in a rental home and decide what long-term decisions to make, including if they want to buy another house in the area.
They’ve been able to sell what's left of the home to a buyer who saw the potential to rebuild, but it’s been bittersweet for the couple.
The partial shade the house provided was ideal for a lot of plants Scott was interested in, like the Voodoo Lilly. A little more than a dozen of them sit in their propagated pots, untouched by the fire. Scott has sold their potato-like tubers on eBay for years.
Rethinking the Future
A blue Buddha rests across the house in the backyard.
“I guess our Buddha did not protect us,” Andrea said.
Their pool sits between the Budha and the house, where parts of their roof sunk in the bottom and an exercise ball floats at the top of the pool.
Andrea and Scott were the first ones to see the house when it went on the market. They bought it within 10 minutes of seeing it.
“It was exactly beautiful, and we don’t have the heart to try to make something that’s not as nice,” Andrea said.
They planned on staying there until they couldn’t live on their own, and then they would pass it on to their children.
The fire has made the couple completely rethink the trajectory of their future, and they can’t even fathom it yet, Andrea said.
“We weren't ready to talk about which kids we should live near to help take care of us someday," Andrea said. "It just kind of turned our life upside down. It's just sad. This is the favorite house I've ever lived in ever."
Their first instinct was to rebuild, but as the tragedy suck in, the couple realized that rebuilding it wouldn’t be practical for them.
“If someone else has a boatload of money, they could make it as nice," Andrea said. "We’re just not in that position right now."
Memories disintegrated
Their piano that’s been in the family for 40 years sits in the living room with chunks of the ceiling laying on top of it. It’s the piano their kids learned to play.
All the scrapbooks filled with photos from their children and family life were left to ashes.
Andrea said that the memories and photos she accumulated were the most difficult to lose.
She spent almost a year going through all the plastic shoe boxes for categorizing the photos and videos of her kids growing up. She also lost a cassette tape of her father’s voice who died 40 years ago.
“All of that’s gone,” Andrea said. “You just wake up at night and go ‘Oh my God. I’ll never have that again.’”
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Sarasota couple copes with loss of home after a tragic house fire
