A week after fire destroys home, West Palm family still in disbelief

Feb. 23--WEST PALM BEACH -- Angie Davidson and a friend were driving back to West Palm Beach from Durham, N.C., the day after Valentine's Day.

Davidson, 36, had just attended a court hearing on behalf of parents of her late best friend, trying to help them gain custody of their three grandchildren, who were now living with a stepmother. It hadn't gone well. The judge had sided with the stepmother, against the grandparents.

Davidson was on I-95, just shy of Georgia border, when her phone chimed.

"Mom! The house is on fire!"

Then the phone cut out. For the next 25 minutes, neither she nor her friend had cell service.

When she finally got through, Davidson learned her five children were safe. They'd been playing basketball in the yard when they saw the smoke.

A spark had sprung from wires in a back closet and that was all it took, Davidson said.

Midnight, the Chihuahua they had from birth -- they'd delivered him -- didn't make it out of the house. "He was barking and barking and he just wouldn't come out," Davidson's kids told her.

An uncle tried to slow the fire with a garden hose but it was no use. Firefighters arrived to find the 60-year-old structure at 2713 Florida St. in flames.

By the time they were done, all the windows were smashed, the roof was cut with a gaping hole, the interior was coated in char and their belongings soaked. A living room TV set, on the mantle of a decorative fireplace, was melted beyond recognition.

A week later, the acrid smell of charred walls, rugs, appliances and plastic toys still hangs in the wrecked house. The floor tiles Davidson just installed are covered in soot. Forget about the new bed and new carpet. Family photos, lost. Wedding dress.

The concrete block house, what remains of it, sits on a triple lot near the end of Florida Street, in a blue collar neighborhood just west of the interstate and south of Palm Beach International Airport. A chicken scurries across the yard. The Davidsons have four of them and a steady supply of eggs. And their pig survived. And the cat and pet lizard.

Attic insulation floats in the air like snow, pushed by a breeze through the rafters and peeled-back ceiling panels. Thick, yellow electrical cables run from a power box, through one side of the house and out the other, to a camper in the yard, where the family now lives.

The kids, aged 5 to 15, are back in school. Meanwhile, Davidson and her husband Kenny, 47, are left to pick up the pieces -- literally and figuratively.

So many decisions. They didn't have insurance -- they couldn't find a company to insure the place, Davidson said.

She has taken a week or two off from her job as a driver and caretaker for a woman with dementia. Kenny continues to work, as a hospital plumbing subcontractor.

Davidson hopes to obtain a loan based on the value of the land, to rebuild. She called Habitat for Humanity and is waiting to hear if the nonprofit homebuilder might help, too.

She's been "overwhelmed with donations of clothes," she added. Friends also started "Gofundme" efforts to raise money online. A local church held a car wash fundraiser for the family.

The night of the fire, the principal of her youngest childrens' elementary school drove over, even before Davidson made it home, to see that they were safe. "My daughter was laughing, 'Mom, she came here in her pajamas!' That was amazing. That was very heart-touching to me," Davidson said.

"It really wasn't my pajamas," the principal, Valerie Haines of Meadow Park Elementary, said Wednesday, laughing. "It was workout clothes."

Haines said that around 8:30 that night, she noticed her phone was "blowing up." One of the teachers told her a student's home had burned. "I felt it was, at a minimum, imperative to check on the safety of our students. It's what we do. My faculty was really concerned about the children. The family has been in the school for years."

When she arrived, Red Cross volunteers were on the scene, helping the family. It was dark but she could see the house was destroyed.

"I did see my 5th grade student, Serenity....She's a sweet girl. She was really worried about her dog."

Serenity would spend the night at a friend's house. Meadow Park staff and faculty made sure she and kindergartner Justin would have what they needed for school.

Serenity is a member of the school's Safety Patrol. She was worried about having lost her patrol belt. "I said, 'Dont worry, honey. We will make sure you have what you need,'" Haines said. The family also will benefit from a food pantry program the elementary school runs.

"That really is what this school is all about," said Haines, who became principal there about a year ago. "So many teachers and faculty members made sure she's OK, and we're still collecting for the family."

The older kids' schools, Renaissance Middle and Forest Hill High, also are planning to help, Haines said.

The kids are doing as well as can be expected, Angie Davidson said. Daughter Hailey, 15, who placed the call that alerted her, and Serenity, 11, whose birthday was the day of the fire, seem fine, she said. The boys -- Josh, 15, Jacob, 14, and Justin, 5 -- "have their days."

Davidson seems stoic amid the chaos. "I haven't even cried yet. I'm still numb," she said.

"I have to just stay strong for my kids. It's not easy but I just gotta stay as strong as I can."

Have a West Palm Beach news tip? Contact Staff Writer Tony Doris at tdoris@pbpost.com or 561-820-4703.

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