“It makes you believe in humanity again,” Arlington County Fire Department Capt. David Zuniga said Monday, reacting to the nearly $41,000 that community members have donated to his family after they lost their North Potomac townhome in a fire on Friday.
Zuniga’s family is one of four whose townhomes were destroyed or damaged by an early morning fire that began outside of one townhome and spread to three homes on the row. In the aftermath, community members have donated nearly $60,000 to GoFundMe fundraisers, and neighbors are collecting items and gift cards for the affected families.
According to MCFRS officials, firefighters were dispatched around 5:30 a.m. to the scene of the fire at the 11900 block of Roan Lane in North Potomac. More than 60 firefighters worked to extinguish the flames burning four three-story townhomes, according to officials. No one was injured in the blaze and the total damage was estimated at $700,000.
The cause of the fire is still undetermined as of Tuesday morning, according to MCFRS. However, fire officials said it may have been accidental and sparked by damaged lithium batteries or electrical “components” outside the home, officials said on social media.
On Friday morning around 5 a.m., Zuniga said he was woken by his daughter Lindsey, 18, alerting him that their neighbor’s townhome was on fire.
Lindsey Zuniga told Bethesda Today on Monday that she had woken up early to attend a graduation ceremony for a friend. She looked out of her bedroom window, expecting a “glowing orange” sunrise and instead saw flames. Lindsey jumped into action — waking up her five family members, calling 911 and grabbing their dogs.
After she woke Zuniga, he ran downstairs and out to the backyard to assess the blaze, and said he quickly realized the fire was much larger than he expected.
“That was a huge fire load,” Zuniga recalled.
Zuniga said he used a garden hose to spray water on the back side of the townhomes to provide time for the other families to evacuate. He said he knew the townhomes were made of “lightweight construction” and can catch on fire quickly.
“With a fire load that big, I knew we only had a few minutes to escape,” Zuniga said.
After accounting for his family in the townhome community’s parking lot, Zuniga realized some of his neighbors were still asleep inside and he began banging on their doors.
“I thought we were going to lose the entire row of houses just based on how much fire we had on the backside of that house,” he said. Shortly after his neighbors evacuated their homes, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) crews arrived to fight the blaze, according to Zuniga.
MCFRS officials credited the Arlington fire captain with getting all of his neighbors out of their homes safely, but Zuniga said he doesn’t think he did anything “spectacular.”
“I did what anyone else would have done,” he said.
At the scene, firefighters fought a large blaze at the rear of two adjacent townhomes. The fire, which engulfed the backside of the homes, had spread to two more townhomes before it was fully extinguished.
“They were a very aggressive company,” Zuniga said of the firefighting crew. “I couldn’t be more proud to call myself a firefighter, seeing those guys in action.”
Fundraising efforts
Since the fire, tens of thousands of dollars have been raised on GoFundMe for the four affected families. A GoFundMe for Zuniga’s family has raised nearly $41,000 for the family of five. The fund has a $37,500 goal.
“The amount of love, the amount of support has been amazing,” Zuniga said, noting that some community members offered to buy Lindsey a prom dress and a graduation cap and gown, knowing that those milestones were coming up for the Thomas S. Wooton High School student.
More than $15,500 has been raised in a GoFundMe for the Bett family, which consists of a mother and three of her seven children, who also lost their townhome in the fire. Donations will go toward emergency shelter and eventually long-term housing for the family, as well as clothing and shoes, food, hygiene products, pet care supplies and school materials for the children, according to the fundraiser.
A GoFundMe for the Song family, consisting of a husband and wife and their two young daughters, has raised $5,850 out of its $10,000 goal, according to the fundraiser. The Song family’s home is still standing, but all of the items inside have been damaged by smoke and must be replaced, according to the fundraiser. In addition, the family will likely be displaced for around six months.
Another GoFundMe has raised more than $5,000 out of the fund’s $30,000 goal to support the Huang family. According to the fundraiser, which is organized by Shawn Huang, donations will help him support his wife and two children, ages 7 and 14, after they “lost everything” in the blaze.
“As the sole provider for our family, I’m now facing an overwhelming road ahead. Your support will help us begin to rebuild,” Huang wrote in the fundraiser.
Some community members have organized relief efforts, aiming to deliver gift cards, clothes and shoes directly to the families. Among them is Rikki Zeitz, whose Potomac Meadows residence sits directly across from the townhomes.
Zeitz told Bethesda Today on Monday that she has collected more than $1,000 worth of gift cards, clothes and basic hygiene items — and on the day of the fire, she even donated the shoes off her feet.
“The people whose homes got destroyed already don’t have a lot. So that’s when I immediately felt called to take action,” Zeitz said.
Before she began collecting donations, Zeitz said she had taken in one family after the fire and served them breakfast. And as she was on her way to drop her two young children off at school, the expecting mother said she couldn’t help but give the shoes she was wearing to one of the displaced mothers.
“I saw all the families that are displaced on the sidewalk. … [The families] were in robes and were barefoot,” Zeitz said, describing the scene in the townhome community after the fire.
Zeitz is still collecting donations, noting gift cards were better than physical items, as the families do not have permanent housing yet. Those interested in donating can contact Zeitz at rikkizeitz@gmail.com.
A fire escape plan
Zuniga said Monday the biggest lesson he can share after the fire is for people to have a fire escape plan.
“Make sure you convey that to your loved ones, to your kids, your partner, and ensure that if there is a fire and emergency, everybody knows at least two ways to get out of their home,” Zuniga said.
It is also critical to have a designated meeting place outside of one’s residence, Zuniga said, which can help families take account of everyone in the household.
“That way, when the fire department shows up, they can say, ‘Hey, my entire family is outside. We’ve all met at this designated location.’ And it’ll make everything so much easier for [the firefighters],” Zuniga said. “And please check your smoke detectors — make sure you’re changing out your batteries at least twice a year.”
