DENVER (KDVR) — A Denver mom came back from dropping her daughter off at school to her house on fire. She shared her grief and gratitude with FOX31 after firefighters put out the flames.
Shortly before 10 a.m. Thursday, the Denver Fire Department was alerted to a fire at home near Colorado Boulevard and Colfax Avenue.
“I’m seeing firetrucks and I thought it was kind of odd on the side of town,”’ Raven Mendez said. “I pull in the back and my neighbor who actually went into my home to start putting out the fire with a garden hose was in the back window, and he said, ‘go get the dogs,’ and he’s in our bedroom window.”
Raven Mendez walked FOX31 through the moments of coming home from school drop off to discover a fire in her home.
“Crews made a quick attack on the fire, knocked the fire down pretty quick,” Assistant Chief for Denver Fire Jeff Linville said. “It’s uninhabitable at this point. We were able to remove several animals from the home.”
DFD told FOX31 dogs and cats were rescued and given oxygen for smoke inhalation. Now, they are working to determine what caused the fire.
“So fire department saying it’s accidental when you have cats, anything is really an accident,” Mendez said. “The facts point to it started in the kitchen and most of the most of the walls in the top, the living room in the kitchen are covered in smoke. It’s it’s really a blessing that everyone got out to be honest with you.”
Mendez is focused on blessings right now.
“I’m a single mom, I have a 12-year-old, three-year-old,” Mendez said. “I go to work every day. I cook dinner and do school runs. I want to be ‘Mrs. Fix it’ but I can’t right now. I can’t. And I don’t have the ability to do that. But being able to really like talk to everyone and feeling that support has been like crucial. Complete strangers. Firefighters. Is everyone just really, just like, lending that support.”
Mendez says she moved to Denver to pursue her passion of art and she is so grateful to also discover the community that is rallying behind her. Her canvases and creations were not destroyed in the fire, something she is grateful for.
“I think right now is probably a really good time to use that as like a therapy session because the backyard is still usable, I can still use that and so do my artwork,” Mendez said.
Red Cross came by to connect and see how they could support Mendez’s family and pets.
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