Spearman-White Family Fire Recovery Fund

Tragically, in the early morning hours of            Friday, October 11, 2019, my wife and I suffered a devastating loss. Our home was completely destroyed, along with almost all of our personal belongings (including my wheelchair), by an accidental fire. First and foremost, everyone got out safely and the most severe damage was limited to our condo, but there was some water and smoke  damage to two other units. In speaking with LA County Fire inspectors immediately after the fire was extinguished and while inspecting the damage, the fire was deemed an unfortunate accident caused by a power strip that faulted and caught fire.

The LA County Fire Department crews and Signal Hill Police Department crews did an incredible job in putting out the fire, working to limit the damage and in making sure that all residents of our building were accounted for and safe. We thank them for their efforts and assistance. Unfortunately, the fire was fast moving and resulted in extensive damage to our unit making it uninhabitable. The initial assessment is that it could take up to a year to rebuild our home.

A neighbor and family friend has graciously opened her home to my wife and I to stay and rest until we could make other arrangements and all necessary calls. We are forever grateful for her friendship and offer of assistance and have been able to make most of the initial calls needed. After trying to get some rest, my wife and I immediately began to make a list of necessary priorities, actual needs, actions and contacts, assessing and confirming our financial situation and making calls. Our highest priorities were to contact the home insurance carrier and to try to identify immediate housing options.

Later that morning a city building inspector officially confirmed the initial assessment we had been given by the fire department, deeming our home totaled and uninhabitable. While meeting with the an insurance company representative an hour later, we received further confirmation of the severity and damage as well as very unexpected bad news. Unknown to us (and we are fighting hard to address this), the insurance policy covering our home would not provide any temporary housing assistance or cover any of of the replacement costs for our personal property and belongings as we had been previously told was confirmed, but would cover the cost to rebuild our home. Initial estimates have stated that we should expect to be out of our home for upwards of a year.

This information regarding the lack of coverage exponentially increased our sense of urgency and we’ve shifted our efforts towards identifying and contacting non-profits and veterans groups that could possibly provide some type of immediate assistance while we worked through this process with the insurance company. Presently, there are many affected by wildfires throughout California, but our home was not destroyed by a wildfire and as such we have been told that we do not qualify for any  Federal or State Disaster assistance.

My wife and I have been together in our beautiful first home for 13 years and have two adult children that live out of state. My wife has worked for a utility company for over 20 years and I am a Permanently Disabled US ARMY Veteran and self-employed. Due to the severity of my disabilities, I am required to use a wheelchair at times, am regularly bed bound due to a spinal cord injury and rely on others for a lot of my regular daily activities. As such, my disabilities have severely affected my ability to work and income the last 10 years, but we’ve done ok.

With all humility, this is the hardest thing we have ever had to do. My wife and I are good people, who have worked very hard to build a solid middle-class life. Unfortunately this present tragedy is testing us in ways we’ve never imagined and is threatening all we have worked for and our future. That said, we are asking for donations in any amount that individuals are willing to offer which will go towards covering our immediate and long-term housing needs, other living expenses to cover clothing and food for my wife and I until we are able to return to our home and to try to replace some of our most necessary personal belongings.

In the event that we are able to rectify our insurance situation or identify other options and/or sources to cover our costs for housing and living expenses, we will work to refund all or as much of any donated monies back to everyone who has donated to assist us. While we have always tried to help others, we have never asked anyone for anything. After losing our home and most of our personal belongings, we recognize that this situation is a different challenge and we remain hopeful for tomorrow and the health and safety we have been blessed with.

With the utmost humility, we thank you in advance for your thoughts, well wishes, prayers and consideration of any amount towards our request for donations. 

A few pictures of our home before the fire:

 

Pictures of the damage: