Hello, my name is Peyton Kuklentz. I am the creator of this GoFundMe, and an employee of Integra Testing Services. I created this page for my friend, and co-worker Jamal Williams, who just recently (Thursday June 27, 2024) had his home, located in New Jersey, destroyed by an out-of-control house fire. That was caused by a candle being knocked over, and the flame then proceeding to spread uncontrollably.

There were four people and one pet who called the house their home. Jamal’s elderly mother, his older brother, Jamal himself, his thirteen-year-old rat terrier named Ace, and his eleven-year-old daughter Jianna, were all living in the house before it was severely damaged by a catastrophic mixture of fire damage, water damage, and smoke damage. Thankfully, no lives were lost in the fire that night.

Everyone who was in the home at the time was able to make it out mostly physically unscathed, except for his mother who suffered burns to her lower left leg, and left foot. Even though the family was able to escape with minimal injuries, I know that this event has taken, and continues to take a huge mental toll on the entire family, especially the ones who lived in the home.

Questions such as what do we do now? How do we rebuild? Must be plaguing his family as you read this.

Below are some pictures of the damage caused to the home by the previously stated causes.

(Jamal Wearing a PAPR Inside of the Home)

(Jamal's Mother Trying to Save Whatever She Can from the Fridge)

(Jamal's Mother and Daughter Cooking Long Before the Fire)

(That Same Kitchen in Wake of the Fire)

For those who would like to see more pictures, please refer to this link (https://photos.app.goo.gl/yMDiEv3TwLXT31Xj6) that will take you to a Google Photos Album with all of the pictures taken shortly after the June 27th house fire, as well as some of Jamal's family themselves.

Our starting goal is to raise $10,000 for Jamal. But we will be thankful for any donations made towards helping alleviate the burden he and his family are facing. All funds raised will be going towards Jamal’s recovery effort, focusing on replacing clothing and lost personal items, in addition to securing temporary housing for Jamal’s mother as the rebuild effort gets underway.

Jamal is a great guy who always has a smile on his face, he loves his daughter and his family more than anything on the planet, and all-in all he’s just an awesome person to be around. This fact alone makes it all the more saddening to watch Jamal struggle through this tragedy and shoulder this burden on his own. I created this page to help and try to take some financial stress off him as he recovers. Any donation is extremely appreciated and will certainly begin to add up towards the larger goal.

Below is a personal retelling of the events that Jamal Williams went through on June 27th from his point of view, that he sent to me via email, with some very minor paraphrasing, and other small edits noted by *.

Day 0:

“While working at *job location* on Thursday 27 JUN 2024 I received a voicemail message from my 11-year-old daughter, Jianna. I didn't see the call as we had just finished up with a decontamination on some *medical supplies*, however I was notified via email shortly after with a transcription of the message:

"Dad define house fire Daddy"

I called my daughter back in confusion. She answered screaming and crying, barely able to get her words out:

"Dad the house is on fire. I can't find Grandma, and Ace (13 y/o Rat Terrier) ran back inside the house after I got out"

At that point I was headed towards the loading dock with *two co-workers*, and as my confusion turned to panic, I began to sprint towards the exit, leaving *the co-workers* behind without another word.

For the 20 or so minutes it took for me to get back to the house, I'd say it was one of the worst experiences of my life. "Is my daughter okay? Did my mom and my dog die in this fire? What will I see when I arrive?" I could do nothing but freeze up, grit my teeth, and continue to make my way towards the house.

As I got closer onto the main road where the house is located, there were various fire trucks blocking off all access. I doubled back and took another road around which led to the back end of the block. Upon reaching my street, there were cars frantically exiting out of the one-way, with people in the road yelling at me to turn around. I screamed at them to move as my house was the one burning.

I arrived in front of my home to an indescribable chaos. Strangers and neighbors looking on in silence as my home burned; Fire trucks and first responders inside knocking, out windows and drenching the home with water; The smell of thick smoke in the air washing over me as I forced my eyes to look for something, anything good in this moment of pure uncertainty.

I see my daughter in her pajamas standing in a crowd of people alone near the garage. I reached out and grabbed her, holding onto her for what felt like forever just to know that she was okay. I spotted Ace the dog standing in the grass, confused at what was happening, I grabbed him and put him inside of my van to take him out of the heat. My daughter's mother arrived shortly after to get her away from the scene and what continued to unfold.

I found my mother surrounded by folks from the Red Cross and the Salvation Army; a substantial portion of her lower left leg and foot were burned by the fire, and they had begun treating her wounds when she told me what happened. She had knocked a candle over, and it began to spread before she could properly put it out. She did not know how to use the fire extinguisher (pulling the pin out) and before things got too out of control, she grabbed my daughter to escape the home. As the blaze continued to worsen, my neighbor showed up to help them get over the fence and out of the way of the fire. I arrived roughly 15 minutes after that.

As the fire continued to go on, knowing my family was safe I put on a PAPR (Powered Air Purifying Respirator) that I had in the van from the day’s decontamination job, and ran into the home with the firefighters. My goal was to save as much as I could: my mother's medication, her and my daughter's clothes, anything I could grab that was not already destroyed by smoke, fire, and water. I made multiple trips inside of the building as things began to stabilize a bit, doing what I could to ease the process of what was happening, doing anything I could to help. I found myself digging through rubble searching for my mom's phone which had her ID, debit card and insurance. I had cut my hands up with glass in the process but couldn't recover those items before finally exiting.

The house was then boarded up, power and water were shut off, and all that remained was a moonlit visage of the still-smoldering structure that was once my haven from the world. I've still not had time to properly process or grieve the loss of what occurred that day.

Five days (Editor Note: This email was sent to me on Tuesday July 2nd) on I am still scrambling, attempting to help where I can. So far, I have been running my mom around and helping her get situated at my middle brother's place down the road. My oldest brother stayed in the second-floor unit of the home and while the fire did not directly hit his place upstairs, there was significant smoke damage in addition to the damage done by the fire department to the doors and windows of his dwelling.

I'd recently moved back there within the last six months and had been staying in the basement unit. I suppose I got it as badly as my mother, as my belongings were hit with a combination of smoke and fire, as well as water damage from the fire dept. running down into the basement. An indescribable feeling ran through my mind as I walked through what was left of my own dwelling: Hanging ceilings, puddles of water, thick smoke covering my belongings, and debris everywhere.

The bright side of things is that no one perished that day, but the recovery and cleanup will take time. I have never had an easy go of accepting or asking for help, and I would rather struggle in silence as I have been. The last 12 months have not been easy: Six of my relatives died between October 2023 and January 2024. My girlfriend and I were facing some issues, so I moved back to my mom's place in February. A week later my German Shepherd died from neglect after a friend of mine took him for me and failed to even take care of him. My brother and I had made a habit of feeding the street cats, a month ago one was run over and its kitten died rather gruesomely a week later, I found them both. Days later this fire happened.

Life is fickle, and sometimes tragedy continues to follow us despite what good we may put into the world. It is my hope that whoever is reading this takes some positivity from it. Hug your loved ones, don't take anything for granted. We never know when it could be the end.” -Jamal Williams via Email Sent to me, on Tuesday July 2nd, 2024.