‘The true meaning of the love of a community’

Outpouring of support for Clinton family burned out of home

CLINTON — Domingo Millan is looking forward to sitting down at the dining room table to enjoy a home-cooked family dinner.

This is something he savored, before a fire swept through his Old Nod Road home, Sept. 1.

The family lost everything in the house they have lived in for four years.

“This is our sanctuary that we lost,” said Millan.

Millan and his wife, Kelly Card have two children, Brian, 23, and Isabella Irizarry, 10, in addition to three dogs Journey, 8, a mixed golden retriever, Rascal, 3, a 100pound mixed lab and Hunter, 3, a mixed border collie.

Millan is a 1986 graduate of Madison’s Daniel Hand High School and Card graduated from The Morgan School in Clinton in 1993.

The cause of the fire was a toaster malfunction, according to fire officials.

“It was a normal day,” said Card. “I put my toast in the toaster, that pops up like clockwork.”

Then she went outside to pull some weeds and feed the birds.

“All of a sudden, I walked back to the front and I hear ‘Crack,’” she said. “All the smoke comes billowing out my house. Now, I start screaming. Instantly I want my dogs.”

It was Rascal that saved all the dogs during the fire.

“My dog had taken his teeth, grabbed the slider and opened the door and let all three of them out,” she said. “They are all just looking at me, like, ‘Mom, get us the heck out of here.’ They’re all trembling.”

Since the fire they have rehomed Hunter, who “has found his forever home with a close and dear friend,” said Millan.

Officer Ryan Sheehan, Clinton Municipal Animal Control Officer, took the other two dogs for a couple of days until the family could find housing that allowed pets.

The pets and the family have now been reunited.

Millan, an employee for Madison Public Works, is thankful the fire wasn’t worse.

“She called me and said ‘Our house is on fire, come home,’” he said, referring to his wife.

“The minute I heard that I knew that she was OK because she was able to call me,” he said.

Clinton, Killingworth and Madison fire departments all responded to the fire.

While the neighbors assisted the family in the immediate aftermath, the American Red Cross helped the family find temporary housing at an area hotel.

A Go Fund Me page (Fundraiser for Kelly Card by Cynthia Powers : Domingo and Kelly Millan (gofundme.com) has raised almost $11,000. In addition, the family has received donations of household items and clothing.

Millan talked about the loss. “The only thing that we’re trying to save is precious things to my wife,” he said.

Card’s voice quavered as she talked about the special memorabilia.

“I have collected all my life,” she said.

They have rented a storage unit specifically for the items they were able to salvage, since they are all smoky. Card hopes to restore the special items.

With the help of Madison Jaycees and Families Helping Families, the family put down a deposit on a rental, which they hope to move into by Oct. 1.

Madison Jaycees gifted the couple $2,500 and Families Helping Families donated $3,200.

“Even though Domingo does have insurance, cash flow is not ideal right now,” said Ryan McMillian, president of the Madison Jaycees.

He said it is very satisfying to help out his community.

“You get to help families out when — a lot of times they’re not expecting it — and we’re able to really do something a little more meaningful than ‘Here’s $100,’ and it not only helps them but you can just see the anxiety level just go way down,” McMillian said

“It’s just amazing to see the stress almost melt off of them,” he said.

Miner Vincent, president of Clinton’s Families Helping Families, talked about how his organization helps families in times of crisis.

“They needed an infusion to get the deposit not to lose the house,” said Vincent. “That’s what we do. Luckily, we had the resources to do that.”

Millan and Card are grateful for the community support.

“I’ve never been in a situation like this, but I have seen communities come together from Old Saybrook to all the way to a church in North Branford,” Millan said. “The whole Shoreline really got together to help my family and our closer friends, wow, they’re like family now.”

“Never in my life — never, ever, ever, ever, ever — did I understand the true meaning of the love of a community,” Card said.

“There’s a saying, ‘Who helps somebody, it’ll come back 10fold,’” she said, tearily. “It didn’t come back 10-fold, it came back 10,000-fold.”

Arnold Gold / Hearst Connecticut Media Domingo Millan and his wife, Kelly Card, inside their burned out home in Clinton.