Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Cooper City house fire displaces nine people
David Zahria spent Sunday night in his neighbor’s driveway after a fire that began outdoors and spread to the roof of his Cooper City home left his family of nine without a place to live.
“It was about 10 or 11 o’clock, we were watching TV and smelled smoke,” Zahria said about his house that is on Southwest 117 Avenue in the Flamingo Gardens West development, just north of Stirling Road. “We came outside and with a neighbor, tried to put it out. The wind made the fire a lot worse.”
Six family members were at home at the time and all escaped, along with Kitty Cat, a tabby feline the family has owned since 2005, and their pit pull, Diesel, who was outside when it happened. A Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue firefighter rescued Kitty Cat from inside the house.
The blaze is being investigated by the Broward Sheriff Fire Marshals’ Bureau and the State Bureau of Fire and Arson Investigation, said Mike Jachles, spokesman for Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue.
“The preliminary cause is accidental, due to discarded smoking materials in a garbage can that was outside, next to the house,” Jachles said.
Zahria met with city investigators and an insurance adjuster Monday morning. The roof of the single-story house was partially collapsed and the facade was charred. Zahria and his wife and kin have lived there for 26 years, he said.
Zahria praised the Broward Sheriff’s Office, especially the deputies who arrived before firefighters.
“All I know is BSO did a hell of a job,” Zahria said. “They were awesome.”
Regular folks came to the family’s aid, too. They included some of the 1,400 subscribers to Cooper City Buzz, a Facebook page where residents trade advice about schools, lawn services and other topics of interest to city residents.
The page manager, Roni Sterin, stopped by to offer Zahria support.
Sterin posted on Cooper City Buzz that the family needed a place to live, and she said in 10 minutes, she had 52 members offering help.
“The whole neighborhood is so concerned,” Sterin told Zahria.
Though the American Red Cross provided the family with a voucher for a night at a hotel, they need a place to rent until their home is repaired.