Neighbors help Apache Junction man rebuild his life

Todd Copper had lived in his Apache Junction home for 27 years before losing everything in a devastating fire. Now his neighbors are trying to help him rebuild.

Jan. 20 began like any average morning for the 60-year-old.

“I was in my office in the front of the house checking my email, which I would do before I go to work,” Copper told The Arizona Republic. “I was sitting there when I heard this strange noise, kind of like a rumbling noise.”

Copper initially wrote it off, not thinking too much of it. Going on about his day, Copper said he was about to head to the back of the house to shower, when he realized something was wrong.

“I started smelling smoke as I walked into the kitchen. I opened the back door and the whole back patio was already engulfed in flames about halfway up the side of the house,” Copper said.

Caught in a daze, Copper rushed back into his office to grab his briefcase — a “stupid decision,” he said.

As he tried to escape, Copper said he felt something brush past his leg, thinking it was his friend’s dog, Kitty Kat, who he’d been watching as her owner was in the hospital recovering from life-saving surgery.

“I thought she went by me, the smoke was so thick in there I couldn’t really see anything,” Copper said.

When he realized she hadn’t made it out, Todd went back in to try and find her.

“She perished in the fire. She crawled under the bed in the back bedroom, hiding from everything, and she never did get out,” Copper said.

Copper’s tortoise, Walter, also died in the fire.

After making it out again, one of Todd’s neighbors called 911, and he was taken to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. He was released later that morning.

During the commotion, one of Todd’s roommates, a homeless man, Robert

“I opened the back door and the whole back patio was already engulfed in flames.” Todd Copper

Nichols, who Copper had been letting sleep on his back porch for eight years, had grabbed a garden house to try and douse the flames.

The two had met in line at a grocery store almost a decade ago when Copper overheard him say he had no place to stay.

“I don’t know what I was thinking, but I was like, you know what, might give it a try you know to help him out for a while.” Copper said.

According to one of Copper’s neighbors, as Nichols tried to tame the fire, he ended up suffering a heart attack.

“It wasn’t working, I guess, and he apparently had a heart attack, according to the Fire Department out there in the front yard,” Copper said. “So they put him in the hospital, and he’d been there under a week, and he passed away seven days after the fire.”

Copper said that the fire is believed to have been started by a space heater located on the back porch, where Nichols had been sleeping.

The Arizona Republic reached out to the Superstition Fire & Medical District and was told by Assistant Chief and Fire Marshall Richard Mooney that the fire remains under investigation, but no determination has yet been made.

Trying to remain positive, Copper said, “It’s been a tough week.”

But those within his community, such as Dawn Jensen, sprang into action.

For Jensen, Copper is defined by his selflessness. A man who does so much and never says no to anyone.

“The day of the fire, after he lost everything, an old couple that he’s done work for before had no electricity, so he went and took the time out to go over to their house in Gilbert just to turn the circuit breaker on,” Jensen told The Arizona Republic.

“My doctor tells me, ‘You know, you need to take time for Todd. You need to take time for yourself.’ I think he might’ve hit the nail right on the head.” Copper said with a chuckle.

Jensen, a neighbor and close friend to Copper, is working to help get Copper’s life back on track, even enlisting her family to extend a hand.

“He’s staying in my mom’s computer room up at my mom’s house until he figures out what to do,” Jensen said.

She was at his bedside as Copper was treated at the hospital the day of the fire, and has since started a GoFundMe to try and alleviate some of the financial stress.

“He lost everything, he had no insurance because he couldn’t financially get himself out of something from the past,” Jensen said on her way to pick up Kitty Kat’s ashes.

Jensen reached out to The Arizona Republic on behalf of Copper, saying, “Todd is a good guy.”

As of reporting, the GoFundMe has reached $3,200 with a goal of raising $50,000.

Those willing and able to donate or are interested in updates on Todd’s story can check out the GoFundMe here.