Family regrouping after residence is lost
A Luling family is picking up the pieces after a massive fire potentially caused by a lightning strike engulfed and destroyed their home Sunday night.
Ricardo Moreno lived at the Bernice Drive residence with his wife and their four children. No one was hurt: The family was out of town at the time of the fire. However, the family had four pets, three dogs and a cat, that were casualties of the fire.
Neighbor Gino Wright saw the fire first hand.
“The lightning was crazy at that point,” he said. “My wife saw the fire and she let me know. We called 911 and walked down there. Within five to 10 minutes, the entire house was in blazes.”
Wright said the Moreno family has been staying at a neighbor’s home since the fire.
Luling Fire Chief Craig Petit said he couldn’t entirely confirm that lightning was the cause of the fire, noting the official cause is still undetermined. But he said evidence indicates the lightning likely played a role.
“The way the fire traveled from where it started, it’s the way it would (in the event of a lightning strike),” he said. “We were dispatched to the residence, and when we learned the house was totally engulfed, we called (for backup).”
Some reports have suggested at least one neighbor as on record that the fire department did not arrive until 30 minutes following an initial 911 call, but Petit refuted that assertion.
“We were there eight minutes after we received word,” he said. “We couldn’t do an interior at all. The fire was through the roof and windows.”
Wright was thankful the Morenos were not endangered themselves.
“Nobody was home, and that’s the good thing,” he said. “The fire was contained to that one house, so no other houses were damaged or people hurt. But they’ve lost all their material things.”
To help on that matter, Wright began a GoFundMe page (http://www.gofundme.com/zsncb5w) this week to help the family. The page is set up to receive donations to help the Morenos get back on their feet.As of Tuesday afternoon, $2,155 was raised in a little over one day.
Meanwhile, the Basketry in Luling has begun collecting donations for the family as well.
“We’re accepting monetary donations, as well as clothing, really any items that can be easily dropped off,” said store owner Kristi Brocato. “Anything they can use. We can’t collect really big things like furniture, but some people have dropped off makeup, toiletries, sheets and other things.
“We saw it on Facebook and we knew we needed to help. (The home is) near us, so this is a good central location for a drop off. In all honesty, I can’t imagine going through something like that. It’s so great to see people stepping up to help, though.”
Be the first to comment