A family in Davenport is looking for help after their house burned down on Dec. 18.
The fire took place just a week before Christmas on West 4th Street in Davenport. Our Quad Cities News spoke with the family that lost everything in the fire on Wednesday, Dec. 27.
“I saw the circuit breaker, it popped sparks,” said Tiffany Howard, a family member inside the burning house at the time. “I went back upstairs to the next level and the house was on fire.”
She was in her family’s house by herself when it caught on fire. “The third floor, it did not have a fire alarm or smoke detector that was actually working,” Howard said. “They were supposed to replace it. We’ve been having problems with the smoke detectors and the fire alarm. The city had came in quite a few times.”
Renting their home from a landlord named Connie, Howard and the rest of the family say the city of Davenport stepped in multiple times to make sure their home was safe.
“They fined her several times, and told her you have to fix these things because you can’t have people here living in this condition,” Tiffany said. “You’re paying $1,200 a month, so you’re trusting the landlord to make sure everything comes up to code. She never had anything up to code.”
Howard says the city advised them to not try and fix any of the problems themselves, because it would make them liable for damages. The family believes since no repairs were made to the smoke and fire alarms, their home ended up in flames.
“We lost everything,” said Dominique Vesey, a family member who lived in the home. “We lost our furniture, socks, everything. Everything in the house. Just a couple of months ago, I had a heart attack. There is so much stuff happening at the end of the year.”
The family is staying in Wood Spring Suites in Davenport for the time being, provided by the Red Cross. A GoFundMe page was created to help the family find a new home (it has raised $1,670 since Dec. 18).
“My daughter did it, and I didn’t even know about it,” Vesey said. “I was proud of her for stepping up. We’re going to just kind of use it for the things that we lost, get furniture back in the house. But first, get a place and then move forward trying to fill it up.”
Despite losing as much as they did right before Christmas, both Vesey and Howard are looking at the positives. “We just go from day to day,” Vesey said. “We’re trying to make the best out of it.”
EARLIER:
Fire destroyed a home on West 4th Street in Davenport on Dec. 18, and now the family is asking for help, according to a GoFundMe site.
When crews arrived, they found the outside of the home sustained heavy damage, with the inside full of smoke and water damage. The family says they lost everything, including all the Christmas gifts for the kids, and they are turning to the community for support.
According to a GoFundMe for the family, the mother had a heart attack in September, and she’s raising her children as a single parent. To donate to the family’s GoFundMe, click here.
