Help Anthony & Nicole Recover from Arson

We are Anthony Fox & Nicole Betz who live in the Denver Metro Area with our Dog, Lucco, and Cat, Apollo. Our home was involved in a tragic fire on the 4th of July caused by our reckless neighbor with fireworks. Please read our story and help or share if you can.

On the 4th of July we were out on a beautiful hike at Left Hand Reservoir near Estes Park, shown in our cover photo shortly before the incident, when we got a cryptic call that we could barely make out. "Fire!.. This is Westminster... Department.. Fire!.. House is on fire... Fire!.. Fire!.." The reception was too poor to make out a full sentence or for them to hear anything we said. We raced down the mountain in tears fearing the worst for an hour before we had enough cell service to call 911 and find out what was going on and tell them we have another pet in the house. By then the Westminster Fire Department had extinguished the fire but had only searched the house for people so the Westminster Sheriff went back in to the house to find our cat, Apollo, who was fortunately alive and hiding, and gave him water while waiting another hour for us to get back to our house.

Our neighbor, Gabriel, the ~30-year old "man" that lives in his mother's basement with no job, no car, no friends, and no life, was lighting fireworks between our houses next to the bushes lining our home in the middle of the afternoon and quickly set both houses ablaze. If not for the swift response of the Westminster Fire Department, and then the dedication of the Westminster Police Department, we may not have our beloved cat or what is left of our home.

Though the "kid" next door was charged with felony first-degree arson, he was back home sleeping in his bed two hours later. Meanwhile, the Fire Department cut power and gas to our house, and destroyed the front door and frame coming in to check for people. The house is boarded up and uninhabitable with some walls and roof sections collapsing and smoke damaging everything else in the house. The Deputy Sheriff that saved our cat told us that because the fire was so close to our bedroom, if anybody had been home sleeping they just never would have woken up.

We asked the the neighbor if they planned to pay for our hotel after burning our house down and they ran inside their home (since they got to keep their power and front door) and slammed the door in our faces and locked it. They have zero remorse, sympathy, or intention of helping us recover from the damage they caused. We may be able to seek restitution through court as victims of arson but the deadbeat "kid" has never made a single dollar in the half-decade that we have been their neighbor so it is unlikely he will ever have any money to reimburse us for the damages that he caused.

The Victims Advocates at the Westminster Police Department set us up in a hotel for a couple nights to give us some time to figure out what to do. The house will not be habitable for the foreseeable future and we have been spending all of our time (during the day, since there is not power for lights in the house at night) moving our remaining smoke-soaked belongings from the house to storage instead of working, while trying to gather enough money to pay for hotels and the rest of the costs associated with temporary housing and loss of work, never mind the extensive damage to our property and possessions.

We are looking for any help we can during this unfortunate tragedy and would appreciate anything anyone can do to help us get through it.