Devastating Fire in Mahwah Garage

Hello, my name is I-Asiah and I’m raising funds for Ahkeel, his mother, Cheryl-Ann, his sister Savannah, and myself. On July 5th, 2023 at about 8PM while eating dinner together, Ahkeel stepped out the home’s side door, just to take a look outside. After noticing smoke coming from the garage, he took a closer look and quickly realized it was on fire. He immediately ran inside to alert us all of the fire and grab the fire extinguisher. After running into the garage in an attempt to extinguish the fire, we realized the smoke was only getting worse, and the fire larger; right away, 911 was called. Ahkeel, thinking on his feet, grabbed the gas-powered lawn mower and gas container out of the garage to avoid explosion, whilst inhaling and trying to over-power the thick, hot smoke. After that, we all rushed to get ourselves, our dog, Nova, and Ahkeel’s, Cheryl’s, and my cars out of the area. Within 2 minutes of Ahkeel noticing the fire, we were down the street watching as the garage was being engulfed in flames. Sounds of things burning and glass breaking flooded our ears, and panic set in that the large fire would spread to the house. Police and Firefighters arrived at the scene about 4-5 minutes after being called and spent hours putting out the fire, investigating what caused it, and trying to recover some of the thousands of pictures that were stored in the garage.

The fire department declared that what caused the fire was two electric scooters powered by lithium ion batteries that we brought from our apartment in Miami, where Ahkeel and I recently graduated from the University of Miami this past May. The lithium ion batteries from both scooters reacted with the heat from outside & sparked each other, making them spontaneously catch fire and explode, engulfing the garage in flames.

The garage and just about everything in it was burnt to a crisp. The intense heat of the fire from the garage also melted the siding of house, as well as part of Cheryl’s window and blinds on the top floor room nearest to the garage fire. Priceless memories and objects that couldn’t be salvaged are gone, leaving everybody devastated. Winter clothing, tools/equipment, and other house items stored in the garage were destroyed. Thousands of photos from Cheryl-Ann and her 3 children’s entire lives were burned away, with a fraction of them able to be recovered. Ahkeel and I stored our furniture, clothes, and electronic equipment from our Miami apartment in the garage while waiting for our apartment to be ready. All of it is now gone.

We are asking for any donations to help replace some of the physical items lost to the fire as well as the damages incurred to the home. Although our hearts our very heavy, we are very blessed and thankful to be alive.