Photo: Ashley Strickland
A single mother is starting over after a Saturday night house fire destroyed her home. Neighbors in Fort Walton Beach are calling a Saturday night house fire an “Easter miracle.”
They say that because there were no injuries.
The family of 6 was out running errands when their home went up in flames.
WEAR News spoke with the family and community members who are now stepping up.
“It’s a total loss, and it got the neighbor’s house too,” mother of five Ashley Strictland said.
Saturday night, Ashley Strickland was out DoorDashing, trying to get some extra cash to fill five Easter baskets on Sunday morning.
That’s when she got the call from the Fort Walton Beach Fire Department.
“I got a phone call when I was DoorDashing from the fire department, asking if we were home or where we were at because our house was on fire,” Strictland said.
Strickland’s neighbor, Teri Mendez, called 911 Saturday night.
“I was concerned about kids being inside the house,” Mendez said.
Luckily, no one was home at the time of the fire.
“I just don’t believe it that this happened to us,” Strickland said.
All five of Strickland’s children were with her.
“It was still on fire when we got back,” Strickland said. “It was very difficult for them to comprehend, and we’re still trying to figure out how to explain it to them completely.”
Strickland says firefighters consider the home a total loss.
“They think it was in my bedroom in the back, far back left corner with the solar panels. They think there was an electrical mishap with it,” Strickland said.
Everything went up in the blaze, including the Easter baskets she had been saving up for.
“We’ve been DoorDashing to get extra stuff for the kids because I’m a single mom, so I do everything for them on my own, and so yes, we have been saving up stuff in the closet in the bedroom, and it’s gone,” Strickland said.
Close family friend Sonja Hacia created a GoFundMe Sunday morning.
“When she called me hysterical, I just jumped into action,” Hacia said. “It was late. So the minute I got up, I started moving to make sure that they had what they needed.”
Just hours later, someone had seen Hacia’s post and recognized Strickland in Walmart.
Right then and there, the good samaritan filled her cart with clothes, food, Easter goodies, and book bags for school Monday morning.
“I wouldn’t expect it. This random person in such a tragedy, and they’re stepping up, not knowing who I am or my kids, and trying to help,” Strickland said.
Hacia says that’s how the community should support one another.
“All I know is this is the hands and feet of Jesus. That’s what it looks like,” Hacia said. “This is how we show love in our community.”
Neighbors say it was an Easter miracle and a call to action.
“It’s an Easter miracle, and it’s a call for everybody to put a little bit of their effort to help this family that doesn’t have anything,” Mendez said.
We’ve reached out to the Fort Walton Beach Fire Department to learn more about the blaze.
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Source: weartv
