NORTH LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) – A family says they’re left with virtually nothing after lightning sparked a fire at their North Lauderdale home and destroyed much of their belongings.
Speaking exclusively with 7News, the family said they’re just grateful that everybody escaped the fire unharmed on Monday. While they were physically unscathed, the house was later found to be unsafe, leaving the family of seven scrambling to find their way forward.
Shahidaaza Alcindor, one of the fire victims, said she felt the moment something seemed wrong at her home near Southwest 87th Avenue and 19th Street in the Burnham Woods neighborhood.
“[It was] raining outside, the weather was bad and the house kind of shook so I seen the door shake a little bit and then I seen lightning strike completely, like, directly after it,” said Alcindor.”
Upon hearing a fire alarm blaring through her home, she went to check what happened.
“Got up and went to go check what was going on and I seen in my kitchen that the fridge was technically on fire ’cause there was black smoke coming out of it, like a lot. I went to go check, and I opened the fridge and it was a big fire so I immediately shut it and I ran outside,” said Alcindor.
As she spoke with dispatchers on the phone, Alcindor was filled with dread as she watched her family’s home burn.
“I was terrified, I mean, I was crying, I was jumping and screaming. I’m like, ‘Please, come save my home, come save my home,’ ’cause this is what we have, this is something that we built together and it’s what’s kept us together,” said Alcindor.
North Lauderdale Fire Rescue crews responded to the fire at around 3:30 p.m. in a race to extinguish the flames.
After dousing the fire, the family consisting of four adults and three children learned the house was deemed unlivable and much of their personal belongings were not salvageable.
“Destroyed like everything that we basically own, everything that we’ve had in this house for over a decade,” said Alcindor. “It tore through our entire kitchen, it’s burnt to a crisp, most of the rooms are, like, burnt to a crisp. Our ceilings are completely gone.”
The tight-knit family of seven is now scattered across the homes of family and friends.
“It’s sad to not be with your family, you know, I’m a twin, I’m not even staying with her. I have my little sister and my little brother that I take care of,” said Alcindor.
Their pain rippling across the community as well.
Alcindor works at Boyd H. Anderson High School and her brother, Adam, is enrolled as a student.
With their lives uprooted in one afternoon, Alcindor’s family is now trying to figure out what comes next.
“We’re taking everything day by day, every day has its own anxieties,” said Alcindor.
The family is still working to determine the full extent of the damage from the fire and figuring out if it would be possible to make repairs.
A GoFundMe has been created online to raise funds that would help support Alcindor’s family as they try to rebuild their lives. If you would like to donate, you can do so here.
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