Family tries to rebuild after Christmas Day fire

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) – It was supposed to be a day of joy but quickly changed after a fire and smoke destroyed the house of a family with two kids and a grandchild.

Yader Alvarenga is 11 years old and is still trying to process what happened.

“It wasn’t only my parent’s room, in the bathroom, and everything like that, I feel bad,” he said.

Alvarenga was at home with his dad – Mario Vellatoro – his mom, sister, and nephew – along with a friend visiting for the holiday but were next door at the time of the fire.

Vellatoro shared what he felt in Spanish, he said, quote, “I’m sad, I lost my couch, my bed, and my clothes, everything.”

New Hanover County Fire Rescue and The Carolina Beach Fire Department responded to a mobile home on Carolina Beach Road at about 6 Sunday evening.

Crews arrived to smoke and flames coming from the attic area of the home – putting the fire out in about 20 minutes.

The American Red Cross of Eastern North Carolina helped the family pay for a couple of nights’ stays at a hotel, some food, and clothes.

Executive Director ARC of Eastern NC James Jarvis said the organization will continue to provide support.

“Our caseworkers will follow up with them to try to identify what their obstacles are, and how we can help,” he said.

Griswold, people have already stepped up to help the family.

“The property owners of Oceanways Mobile Home Park are helping them trying to get them another trailer ready for them to move in, they got one almost ready,” he said.

According to Griswold, the cause of the fire was determined to be an accidental electrical fire – and after what they discovered during the investigation – it could have been worse.

“Good thing it was about 6:30 at night because when I got done, I looked at all the detectors, and the bases were there but no detector,” he said. “If they were sleeping there is a good possibility, you know we could have had injury or fatality.

Griswold urges everyone to test smoke alarms once a week, clean them once a month and replace batteries every year, and after ten years, some detectors need to be replaced.

Lighthouse Shining Ministries located at 6622 Carolina Beach Road is collecting clothes, furniture, and shoes for the displaced family.

Anyone who’d like to donate can drop the items off between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. this week.

The family needs clothes for the following:

• 11-year-old boy –clothing size medium boys, shoe size 5 ½ boys
• 4-year-old boy, clothing size 9 kids, shoe size 5 kids
• Adult male, clothing size medium, pants 32×32, shoe size 7 ½ men’s
• Adult female, clothing size medium, pants medium, shoe size 7 ½ women’s
• Adult female, clothing size small, pant size small, shoe size 4 women’s

The family lost most of their furniture in the fire and could use some for the kitchen, living room and bedroom.