Montz family regroups after devastating home fire

It was a normal Sunday in Montz as Dean Shelton watched TV and played with his 8-year-old son Trey, when there was a knock at the door. 

 It was Shelton’s neighbor, who opened the door before Shelton had a chance to answer – the message was urgent. 

“He said, ’Your house is on fire,’” Shelton said. 

Shelton had a fire going in the fireplace and at first thought that perhaps the smoke from that was what his neighbor saw. But he quickly understood that this was not the case and after getting his son, wife Jennifer and 3-year-old daughter Emma out the house, a 911 call was placed and efforts to suppress the fire underway. 

“We started pulling the water hoses from my house, my neighbor’s house and spraying,” Shelton said. 

The fire was in the attic above Emma’s room, and firefighters had to go through the ceiling to get to and ultimately eliminate the fire. 

“It was a good thing my neighbor was going to get gas in his boat. If he hadn’t seen it, it would have probably been a total loss,” said Shelton. “My little girl lost everything in her room. We got lucky that the fire stayed up there in the attic. We got really lucky … the fire department did an amazing job. Brent, our neighbor, coming through for us like he did. 

“Thirty more minutes, and my little girl would have been in that room.” 

But while not necessarily a total loss, a great deal of damage was done. The house will need to be gutted given the smoke damage and smell, and along with the fire comes water damage as well. And for the time being, the family is displaced. 

“We’ve been staying (with Jennifer’s parents) … we’re really just taking things one day at a time,” Shelton said. “My little boy was devastated at first. He thought we were going to be homeless. We had to tell him hey, we have lots of friends, plenty of places to stay. My little girl is 3, and she’s clueless about it. She always says, ‘I wanna go home.’ Well, we can’t. She says ‘my home is broken.’ Yeah, our home is broken for now.” 

The community has ensured the Montz family hasn’t had to endure the situation alone. Jennifer, a Norco Elementary school teacher, posted to her Facebook page following the incident that the family was in need of boxes. 

“The next thing you know, people who we’ve never even met before in some cases are bringing us boxes,” Shelton said. “In our Montz community forum, she’d mentioned we need some clothes washed, they smell like smoke. I was like, ‘Where’d all my clothes go?’ They’re at people’s houses, they wanted to help … everyone’s been helping out, the whole community. We’re grateful.” 

Other community members have stepped up to help as well. Monique Roth started a collection for the family through Venmo to help through the situation, while Stephanie Dauzat set up a Meal Train page for the Sheltons where people have pledged to deliver meals and make donations. 

 

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