Fort Worth couple asks for help after losing everything in arson at apartments: GoFundMe
A North Texas couple is asking for help after a two-alarm fire damaged their east Fort Worth apartment Friday night, according to a GoFundMe. The fire was ruled arson, and investigators arrested a suspect on Monday.
One couple who were victims of the fire, identified as Jennifer Johnson and Ricky in the fundraiser, lost everything they owned “in the blink of an eye,” GoFundMe organizer Sandy Arceneaux wrote. Ricky’s last name was not given.
“When Jennifer fled the fire, all she had with her were her purse, her medication, her dog, and the urn containing her mother’s ashes,” Arceneaux said in the fundraiser.
Firefighters responded to the La Jolla Terrace Apartments at 8808 Hornaday Circle South, off Randol Mill Road, around 9:30 p.m. on Nov. 15. They found heavy smoke and fire coming from an upstairs unit of a two-story apartment building, according to a Fort Worth Fire Department statement.
In order to supply their trucks with water, crews had to run hoses to fire hydrants across the street. Traffic passing down the street ran over the fire hoses, causing them to burst and creating difficulties with supplying enough water to fight the fire, officials said.
At the same time, the fire intensified, part of the building collapsed, and the incident commander called a second alarm, the release stated. According to officials, it took 50 firefighters a little over an hour to get the fire under control after shifting their tactics to fight the fire from the outside.
A total of eight units were damaged in the fire, according to Fort Worth Fire Department spokesperson Craig Trojacek.
Doyle Rader, a spokesperson for the Red Cross, confirmed that Red Cross volunteers responded to the incident. According to Doyle, 12 adults were displaced in the fire. He understands that the displaced residents were able to be accommodated in other apartments at the same complex.
Johnson and Ricky assumed their rent also covered renter’s insurance as it had under the previous apartment owners. They were told that wasn’t the case, according to the GoFundMe. The Red Cross has provided them with emergency essentials such as clothing, toiletries and other basic necessities to help them get by.
“You have NO IDEA what it is like to lose everything and try to start over from nothing,” Johnson said in a public social media post. “It’s crazy all the things you never realize you use on a daily basis and even the things you use periodically, you don’t know you need it until you do and then it’s too late. This process is going to take a long time.”
According to Trojacek, firefighters responded to another blaze at La Jolla Terrace Apartments on Nov. 16. A vacant unit located at 8801 Hornaday Circle North was damaged, but Trojacek said the fire was small.
A third apartment fire was reported Nov. 18 at a complex in the 1400 block of Vanderbilt Street West. Trojacek told the Star-Telegram that the balcony of a vacant unit was damaged in that fire.
Investigators determined that all three fires were intentionally set. Adam Ewing was arrested Nov. 18 by the Fire Department Arson and Bomb Investigation Division at an encampment for people experiencing homelessness near Eastchase Parkway, authorities said.
The 35-year-old is facing three charges of arson of a habitation, according to officials.
Ewing remained in the Tarrant County Jail on Wednesday, Nov. 20, with bond set at $20,000.
