LAUDERDALE LAKES, FLA. (WSVN) - A family of seven has been displaced after a fire ripped through their Lauderdale Lakes home.
Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue crews responded to the home in the area of Northwest 45th Avenue and 43rd Street just after midnight, Tuesday.
“While I was in bed sleeping, my daughter called out and said, ‘There’s smoke on the roof,’ and I’m like, ‘What do you mean there’s smoke on the roof?'” said homeowner Marlene Peart. “I kept on laying down in bed, and then my son went up on the roof, and he says, ‘You need to get out. Everybody needs to get out now and call 911.’ When I called 911, that’s when everybody came — the fire department, the police.”
No injuries were reported after a child and six adults were able to escape the residence safely.
“I tell everybody just grab our stuff, and we ran out of the house,” Peart said. “We were all sleeping, but there was smoke coming from the roof.”
Fire officials said flames erupted in the living room, but the cause has not been determined.
Peart said there were signs that indicated it was an electrical fire that started in the attic.
“They went inside and realized that there’s an electrical fire that I had inside,” said Peart.
She said the day prior, they were in the kitchen cooking when their power shut off. Peart said she went outside to check if other neighbors were affected as well, but they weren’t.
“We were cooking in the kitchen, and then all of a sudden I heard a loud boom, and all the lights went out, so I thought maybe the light went out in all the houses in the neighborhood,” Peart said.
The family called an electrician to check out the problem.
“He put the power back on, and it went out again,” Peart said, “and then, the alarm was going off also.”
The electrician said he would return on Tuesday, but unfortunately, the flames erupted before then.
“It’s kind of confined to the living room itself and the part of the kitchen is too,” Peart said. “This displacement right now, I’m trying to find someplace to stay.”
The living room and the kitchen have been deemed unsafe, and the family has to wait for an engineer to come to make sure the rest of the home is safe for them to return inside.
American Red Cross volunteers responded to the scene to offer assistance in recovery planning to the affected family.
The family has a GoFundMe that they hope will allow them to find more permanent shelter and replace what they have lost.
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