ORLANDO, Fla. – An Orlando family is without a home after Hurricane Milton ravaged parts of the state.
However, it wasn’t the flooding or debris that destroyed their residence.
David and Christy Darr said that hours after Milton made landfall, their home was engulfed in fire.
“It was hard to process the thought of losing everything,” David Darr said.
The fire started on a tree behind their neighbor’s home on Jeannine Court in Orlando.
According to the Orlando Fire Department, the blaze was caused by a downed power line.
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“We ran outside and saw the flames behind us. We called 911,” David Darr said.
When fire crews arrived, David says they were told the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) needed to cut the power before anything could be done. The crews then left the scene.
“I was upset. I didn’t think that would happen. I didn’t think they would leave without letting us know they were leaving,” David said.
After the crews left, the fire quickly spread from the tree to their home.
“Embers were blowing everywhere,” David said.
The fire department eventually returned.
“We did call them, and they came back and fought the fire, but everything was lost at that point,” David said. “Seeing them leave with the fire burning was devastating.”
News 6 requested an incident report from the Orlando Fire Department to find out why crews left initially. A spokesperson said they are still working on providing that information but did confirm a firefighter was injured at the scene. The firefighter is expected to be OK.
“We’re just trying to struggle to wrap our heads around what we lost,” Christy said.
The family’s home wasn’t the only thing destroyed in the fire. Their business, All American BBQ, operated out of a food truck, was also lost.
“We loved operating the business. We’ve been in business since 2012,” David said.
Though everyone in the home made it out safely including their three cats, which Christy found alive the next day, the future of their home remains uncertain.
“We didn’t have homeowners’ insurance,” David said. “We had lost that because of the age of our roof and the timeline to have it replaced. We were struggling to meet it.”
The couple just signed a contract with a local roofing company a few weeks ago to have the roof replaced soon. David said they thought they had more time.
“We were looking forward to reinstating our insurance, but this happened, resulting in no coverage for us for this damage, so we’re really left with the loss of our home, our food trailer that we operated business from,” David said.
Despite the devastation, the couple remains hopeful.
When asked what was keeping them going David and Christy said, “Each other.”
The couple said rebuilding their home could cost more than $300,000. If you want to help them, they are accepting donations.
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