Oakwood family loses everything in house fire

Nov. 21--An Oakwood family needs help after a fire ravaged their home on Nov. 14.

The family of three lost their home when a fire started in the master bedroom and quickly razed the trailer house.

"I know it's just stuff, but it's still hard, especially here at the holidays," said homeowner Destiny Ortiz. "I'm overwhelmed. I don't even know where to start. It hurt me when my son said he wanted to go home, but then realized we no longer have a home."

Ortiz, 28, and her son, Nehemiah Smith, 10, were home when Ortiz began to smell smoke, like something was burning.

"I was cooking dinner and my son was playing video games when I noticed that the house smelled smokey," she recalls. "Like the smoke of an electrical fire."

When the smell began to get stronger, Ortiz began to check the rooms of her home and told her son to get out of the house.

"I began to panic," said Ortiz. "I went to the back of the house, where the bedrooms are and they were smokey. I said, 'Nehemiah, you need to get out of the house.' The door was closed to my bedroom, when I opened it black smoke came billowing out."

Ortiz said that she at first panicked and then remembered to get low, below the smoke. Nehemiah began to scream outside when he realized the house was on fire and he could not see his mother.

Ortiz said the only thing she grabbed on her way out was her son's video gaming system. "It was in my line of sight on my way out and I decided to grab it for him," said Otiz. "I was going to go back in after handing it to him, and try to salvage more stuff, but the smoke was too bad at that point."

Nehemiah, who had been playing video games and relaxing after school, was only wearing pants when he exited the house.

Ortiz's finance, Joel Murray, 27, whom she lives with, arrived home about the time the house was engulfed in fire and smoke. The house was located on Murray's family's land, near other family members. Murray was next door helping his grandfather, who had just gotten out of the hospital, get out of the car and in his grandparent's home. When Murray returned home, he quickly turned on the water hose trying to contain the fire.

Other family members living nearby came to the couples' aid, trying to help put out the blaze, while they waited for the Oakwood Volunteer Fire Department to arrive.

The trailer house was virtually a total loss.

"The fire destroyed every room in our home, except the family game room," said Ortiz. "We have lost almost everything and we didn't have any insurance on our home."

The cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

Very few things were salvaged.

Ortiz found her engagement ring she had taken off to cook dinner. Another ring, that was Murray's, was found, but a family heirloom ring that was his, has yet to be recovered.

Firefighters were able to salvage three crosses from her living room and the Bible from her Quinceanera. The Bible was open to a section of Psalms.

"I forced myself to go to church that week, even though I didn't feel like it and the pastor preached out of Psalms," said Ortiz. "I hadn't told anyone about that. I felt uplifted by it, like the Lord was sending me a message. A couple of nights after the fire, I was watching Joel Olsteen and he was preaching from Psalms as well and I felt like his message was directed at me. And even though I didn't tell anyone, all the verses my friends have been sending me, they are all out of the book of Psalms."

Ortiz, a woman of great faith, is uplifted by these little "God-winks."

"I hate that it happened, but I'm glad it happened when it happened," said Ortiz. "The fire started in our bedroom. If we had been asleep, you would probably be telling a different story."

The family is virtually starting over and could use help from the community.

There are two Go-Fund me accounts set up for the family, however, you can drop off donations for the family at VIP Cleaners, where Ortiz works.

They are currently staying with relatives until they can get back on their feet. They are accepting clothing, shoes, bedding, housewares, furniture, etc.

"We have a storage building on the property where we can store things until we figure out what we are going to do," said Ortiz.

The family is also looking for a rent house, preferably something in the country.

To find out more of what the family needs, or to make a donation, you can contact Ortiz at 903-394-4073.

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