The Fiscella Family Fire Recovery Fund

We are the Fiscellas and we’re reaching out with heavy but grateful hearts. On Saturday, June 21st our family home was severely damaged by a house fire. While the devastation is significant we are counting our blessings: our family is safe.

 That night was supposed to be a rare treat — a date night for us that extended to include dinner with my parents when they asked to come visit for my Dad’s birthday weekend. We decided to keep the prearranged babysitter for our 3-year-old daughter Eliana and had just left dinner when a motion alert from our Ring camera came through. When we opened the app we were shocked to see a small fire had started in our garage.

 We immediately called 911 and raced to the car to get home. The firefighters arrived quickly and we were just a few minutes behind them. In this short time the fire spread rapidly up the walls of the garage and into the attic. Once we arrived we learned that when the firefighters rammed down the front door our black lab Apollo ran out of the house. He was given oxygen and safely secured in a neighbor’s yard but our beloved cat Bonbon was nowhere to be found. We stood outside with my parents and our neighbors, watching with horror as the firefighters battled the blaze and ventilated the house by cutting open the roof and breaking windows.

After the fire was finally contained we were allowed a brief walk-through to collect essentials. That’s when we found Bonbon hiding in our bedroom closet, one of the least affected rooms. That moment of relief and reunion was everything. While our home is uninhabitable, our little family is still whole. We’re now staying in a pet-friendly Airbnb as we await insurance assessments and begin the long road to rebuilding. We are deeply thankful to the firefighters from Departments 12, 21, and 27 for their bravery, and to the Red Cross for guiding us through the emergency that first night. We have the best friends and family and will be forever grateful for the emotional and financial support we’ve received as we work to rebuild our home and restore a sense of normalcy for our daughter and pets. So many people have already reached out asking how to help and we are humbly accepting support during this incredibly difficult time. The costs of temporary housing, replacing essential belongings and navigating all the unknowns ahead are overwhelming.

Thank you for reading our story, for your prayers, your generosity, and your kindness. We are devastated, but we are together — and that means everything.

With gratitude,
The Fiscella Family

 WRAL story: https://www.wral.com/video/fire-tears-through-a-home-on-kempsford-place-in-raleigh/22059807/