Prince George's County family loses everything in house fire 2 days before Christmas
ADELPHI, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - A Maryland family known for its spectacular Christmas displays each year has lost everything after a fire destroyed their home two days before the holiday.
The fire started Sunday night on the porch and quickly spread to the rest of the home, but everyone survived thankfully.
Family members say they were at home when they heard a crackling noise. Heidy Mendoza says when she went to check on it, she opened the front door and saw flames. Her younger sister called 911.
Mendoza says her mother bought the house on Riggs Road 20 years ago and raised five children here by herself. She says everything was destroyed, including family heirlooms.
Now the family is turning the public and social media for help.
"If they could find it in their hearts to help us in this time of need, we are not asking for a lot," said Mendoza. "We have a GoFundMe where we are hoping that the donations will help with the expenses like transportation. We had to replace all of our medications, so we have to pay that out of pocket again. I work at Washington Adventist Hospital so I have to get new scrubs and just different things like that."
While fire officials say a faulty extension cord powering Christmas lights outside of the home caused the fire, Mendoza's family says a cable connected to an outdoor refrigerator could be to blame.
We are told firefighters arrived to the house in about five minutes after being called to the scene. The home suffered about $100,000 worth of damage.
The timing of this fire is especially tough for Mendoza, who says her husband was deployed last week and she now has to navigate this tragedy without him.