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Early-morning fire damages home in northeast Cape Coral

By CJ HADDAD - | Jan 12, 2021

A fire in northeast Cape Coral Sunday morning impacted a family of six, including four children. Thankfully, no injuries were reported. 

According to the Cape Coral Fire Department, the cause of the fire was candles in the living room and the blaze was quickly extinguished by firefighters upon arrival. The fire started in the early morning hours while the occupants were sleeping, but their smoke alarm was enough to wake them. 

“There was heavy smoke damage in the home, but no injuries occurred,” said CCFD spokesperson Andrea Schuch. 

Officials said the homeowners had several candles surrounding decorative wreaths. The wreaths caught fire, caused the living room table to follow and began to spread to surrounding items. 

Schuch said the smoke detector alerted the residents who then attempted to put out the fire but were unsuccessful. 

“They then grabbed their children and escaped through a rear door and a front bedroom window, for the fire grew too quickly for conventional escape,” Schuch said. 

Schuch advised the public to not leave unattended candles burning, especially when sleeping or leaving the home. She also said this fire was a great example of the importance of smoke detectors. 

“Smoke alarms save lives,” Schuch said. “If they had not had smoke alarms to wake them this could have ended much more tragically.”

Local American Red Cross volunteers from the Florida Gulf Coast to Heartland Chapter responded to the home fire and volunteer members of the Disaster Action Team helped coordinate emergency aid to the affected family.

According to a release, The Red Cross provided emergency financial assistance, relief items like toiletries, health and mental health services, one-on-one support to connect people to available recovery assistance and will continue to provide additional support to the family to meet their disaster-caused needs. 

 

— Connect with this reporter on Twitter: @haddad_cj