The Bulletproofturtleman, (We call him Turt) and his family, suffered a housefire at their apartment that was no fault of their own. Their neighbor, allegedly and accidentally started a fire in their apartment, and upon failure to extinguish it, put our friends in mortal peril.

The Turtle Family (Turt, Merlin and Lumen) survived, they're thankfully now healthy, but they're now searching for another place to live and could be on the hook for damages to the apartment, due to no fault of their own. Their insurance will only go so far, and they could end up responsible for someone else having burned down their home. Whether intentional or not. It's messed up.

--The Story and Aftermath--

"What a f**king hectic past several days for me, my wife Merlin and our son.

Where to start? Going to sleep at 10:30 on Saturday night with my wife and son, but my wife woke me up to the sound of the fire alarm ringing. She told me she smelled smoke when she got to the door to check, but hadn't opened the door. She said the handle wasn't hot yet when she checked it.

Immediately, I got up and threw my pants on and went to the door to check. As I cracked it open to look, a wave of smoke rushed in- The entire corridor was filled practically top to bottom with smoke, and it was so dark and heavy that it blacked out the lights in the hallway. I could feel the heat from it.

I shut the door. "Babe we gotta go." I told my wife to grab the baby bag and her keys while she was holding our son. I grabbed my hoodie and threw it on and grabbed a blanket. I got to the door and told her that as soon as I opened the door, to keep her head down to avoid the smoke and follow me down the corridor.

"We're going to the left towards the door to the outside, whatever happens, keep going, don't stop." We bolted and shut the door to our apt behind us and not knowing if we'd come back. We ran down the hallway, my wife holding our son's face against her chest with a bandana covering his face from the smoke.

It was dark and we couldn't see, but we kept going. I was in front, and despite it being such a short hallway, it felt longer than I remembered and the heat of the flames were at our backs. I had my arm up until I felt the door to the interstitial stairway space hit my arm, and then I pushed through. I turned to make sure my wife made it through, then I closed it behind me as the smoke poured into the space.

Strewn out on the stairs, we saw a man with a bloody right hand where he punched the fire extinguisher cabinet, and an expended fire extinguisher in his left. He was out of it, his face was blackened with soot and burns and his hair singed. We ran up past him on the stairs and pushed the door to the outside open and a stream of smoke quickly rose into the air and we got to the outside where my wife called 911. The firetrucks were already on the way and they saw the smoke in the distance.

It's been several days since then. We have to now do paperwork and get things in order to move all of our smoke damaged property out of the apt and find a new home. Some of it can be saved, some of it will have to get trashed. Our sense of normalcy was taken from us, and things will never be the same again. We have our health to be thankful for, and no one died, but damn if it doesn't suck to lose the place you call home." - Turt's First person account

The Goal we've set is to alleviate the costs The Turtle Family could face, it's their loss of personal possessions, lost wages, the food and relocation costs they're on the hook for.

In Today's economy? That's CRUSHING. And our friends go so far for us. So me and a few other's decided this was the way forward, because as the leader of our group Turt has always pulled for us. I'm asking you, if you have anything, help my friend and his young family get back on their feet, and make their transition to a new life easier.

If you can't do anything monetarily please consider sharing this campaign, as getting the word out may help someone find us.

Update 1 - From Thomas

Hey all, thanks for such an amazing first day. Turt and Merlin were incredibly grateful and amazed by the generosity. Please keep spreading this where-ever you can.

We've had some details clarified and the amount needed has been drastically lowered, thanks to diligent work by Merlin. I've been brought up to date and brought the campaign in line with these new totals.

I want to make sure this campaign is kept honest and transparent. Any and all amounts help, and our community is really pulling together to assist.

Update 2: Much Thanks from Turt, Merlin and Lumen

In an Update directly from the family, I've been informed that they've been offered another unit either on the property or close by until they've secured more permanent housing, They're currently waiting on paperwork and the greenlight to clear on moving everything.

In MUCH better news, they've once again heard from their cleaning company and the amount needed to get them back on their feet has whittled down as they continue to negoiate and shift through what was left. They've either found belongings they need, had them offered to them by their community or gotten a better idea as things clear up, and the gap they need to close has shrunk as we move forward.

I've also received a gracious message and use permission from a Photographer that goes by "MassFirePics" who had taken us pictures of the night in question, as they want to help the family get the assistance they need.

Anything helps as this young family gets their feet back under them, and we're all incredibly thankful for the assistance received thus far