Melbourne Beach family seeks new home, mourns dogs after Dec. 26 fire scorches house
About 4:30 a.m. the morning after Christmas, Mark Lott was fast asleep in his bedroom when he heard a glass-top table noisily burst and shatter, startling him awake in the darkness.
"I opened the door — and I see the whole living room on fire," Lott recalled.
"I yelled to my wife, 'Get out of bed! We're on fire!' " he said.
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Flames quickly climbed into the attic of the Lotts' home on Magnolia Avenue in Melbourne Beach, ripping gaping holes in the roof and reducing practically all of their belongings into charred rubble. Mark and his wife, Cindy, hurriedly escaped with two dogs, Bruiser and Baxter.
However, two beloved family dogs, Bubbles and Shiloh, perished in the blaze.
Mark Lott emerged from his flaming house in the darkness amid temperatures in the 30s wearing surf trunks — he was shirtless and shoeless, and his phone and glasses got burned up inside the home.
Now, the Lotts are literally and figuratively picking up the pieces. A group of relatives met on New Year's Day at a blue shade canopy in the side yard, sitting and chatting in chairs a few steps from the blackened home's broken windows, burnt landscaping and incinerated furniture.
As of Sunday afternoon, a GoFundMe campaign seeking donations for clothes, shoes, toiletries, children's school supplies, medical supplies and other items had generated more than $22,100.
Mark Lott hopes to demolish the ruined structure as soon as possible and rebuild on the property, a process that will likely take at least a year.
Blake Lott, the couple's son, also lived at the devastated home with his wife, Lauren, and children Caiden, 11, and Lillian, 6. The children attend sixth grade and kindergarten, respectively, at Gemini Elementary. The foursome celebrated and opened gifts inside the home Christmas morning before driving to Tampa to stay with in-laws the night of the fire.
Blake Lott said his multi-generational Melbourne Beach family hopes to find a four-bedroom, three-bathroom home as soon as possible that's close to Gemini Elementary.
“Luckily, they weren't here the night of the fire. They didn't have to go through that trauma," Blake Lott said of his young children.
"My daughter was absolutely heartbroken over the dogs. We had gotten her a little kid’s camera from Walmart for Christmas, and all Christmas morning she's sitting around snapping pictures of Bubbles," he said.
"And so of course, she had all those pictures the next day when we found out that Bubbles didn't make it. And so she's just scrolling through all the pictures, just crying and crying," he said.
Firefighters from Melbourne Beach, Indialantic, Indian Harbour Beach and Brevard County Fire Rescue responded to the burning home, which was reported about 4:30 a.m. Dec. 26.
The State Fire Marshal's office determined that the blaze was sparked by an electrical malfunction in the living room, said Gavin Brown, chief of the Melbourne Beach Volunteer Fire Department. Flames reached into the attic and quickly spread throughout the single-story structure, Brown said.
Cindy Lott is a long-term cancer survivor with mobility issues who has endured more than 100 surgeries, Mark Lott said.
Mark and Blake Lott said they have been overwhelmed by support from the Melbourne Beach and Gemini Elementary communities since the fire. Brooke Lott, Mark and Cindy's daughter, expressed thanks in a Dec. 28 Facebook post.
"I can’t put into words the outpour of love our family has received over the last 2 days. We have boxes and boxes of clothing donations and so much more. I can't say thank you enough to those who keep asking to help and asking what they can do," Brooke Lott said in her post.
"You can only imagine how chaotic this situation is from dealing with America Red Cross, insurance companies, adjusters, banks, doctors, county officials, and so so much more. It’s extremely hard for even me to sit down and put together a list of what everyone needs (because) you need literally everything!" the post said.
"We’re going hour to hour figuring things out trying to make priority and it’s a rough process. I mean, it’s just insane."
Rick Neale is the South Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY (for more of his stories, click here.) Contact Neale at 321-242-3638 or rneale@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @RickNeale1
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Melbourne Beach family seeks home, mourns dogs after Dec. 26 fire
