Help Carlie Rebuild After Devastating Fire

In January 2025, my girlfriend Carlie moved into her new apartment. She was coming off of an incredibly successful year, having just completed nursing school and worked through her first few months as a brand-new nurse. After so much hard work and dedication, she was excited to have the financial means to move into an apartment on her own. I bore witness to every new decoration; coffee mug; artwork; and aesthetic choice she shared with me when I visited, or when sent me pictures. Our fathers and I built the bed frame that she slept on each night. Carlie and I took walks around her neighborhood and then fell right on top of the couch to rest amongst the cozy ambience she crafted for us to enjoy.

However, on Friday, February 28, 2025–only a couple months after she moved in, a fire destroyed Carlie’s apartment, along with many other assets she owned, at the time.

As Carlie was relaxing in her living room–she heard a knocking sound at the door. Since she lived alone, and was not expecting any visitors, she chose not to answer the door because she did not feel safe doing so. Soon after, the knocking turned into a loud banging on the back door, to which Carlie cautiously made her way to the back of the apartment to assess. Upon her inspection, the glass on the door shattered and she witnessed a man she did not recognize, attempting to break and enter.

Carlie was terrified but she thought quickly–she analyzed what she could about the culprit’s appearance, grabbed her wallet, and used her phone to call law enforcement to the scene. Fearing for her safety, she did not even stop to put on shoes.

When she led the authorities to the location, to everyone’s surprise, they all returned to see the room ablaze with the orange glow of fire ripping through–not only Carlie’s apartment–but the adjacent ones as well, as the fire continued to expand.

This was startling because, originally, Carlie did not call law enforcement to report a fire. She did not have any candles burning, nor did she even use the stove or oven that day–which means that the culprit who broke and entered the apartment committed arson, as well.

The following day, Carlie and I visited the apartment and rummaged through the damage, trying to salvage whatever we could. While we had hoped that the fire was limited to the kitchen, as seen on the video, the actual damage turned out to be more severe than we expected. We are still cataloging and cleaning as many items and clothes as we can, but Carlie lost many important things such as her laptop, an iPad I bought her for XMAS, many important and sentimental books, living room furniture, a coffee bar and various ingredients for the same, all the groceries she bought in the last month.

Despite all of those losses, the most reassuring fact of all, is that Carlie is physically unharmed.

We have crafted a GoFundMe for Carlie to give her a head-start on restoration.

Thank you, kindly!

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Carlie & Trae