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SIERRA VISTA — A family displaced Friday when their home burned down is struggling to move forward as the holidays approach.
The Herzog family was not home during the noon hour last week when their home at the corner of Sheila Lane and South Carmichael Avenue was devoured by a fire, which had fully engulfed the residence before firefighters arrived after the delayed emergency call.
Amanda Herzog, 30, was at a doctor’s appointment with her service dog. Her two sons, ages 7 and 8, were in school.
 Amanda and Christopher Herzog walk through the remnants of their Sheila Lane home Wednesday in Sierra Vista. The Herzogs home burned to the ground last Friday afternoon. (Mark Levy-Herald/Review) |
Chris Herzog, 34, was out of the house helping a friend. His wife had left about a half hour earlier for her appointment.
The Herzogs had been renting the home at 15 Sheila Lane since May from a landlord based in Tucson.
“We’ve met with her already, and she’s waiting on the fire report to take care of her end of the business,” Chris Herzog said.
The investigation and initial fire-suppression efforts by the Sierra Vista Fire Department were hindered because of the precarious and dilapidated structure being a compromise to the safety of the firefighter crews, Fire Marshal Paul Cimino said.
The exact cause was not officially declared as of Wednesday, “but because it was under remodel, there could’ve been some causes there, but we cannot nail that down,” Cimino said.
The origin of the fire was definitely in the interior, but there is no evidence that makes the fire suspicious, he said.
“We are in desperate need for funds. We did also lose a vehicle in the fire. Maybe somebody could donate a car to us,” Amanda said. “Because of my medical condition, I can’t drive a standard, and that’s what our second car is.”
She has reflex-sympathetic dystrophy, also known as complex pain syndrome. She also has disc degenerate disease.
She was injured while serving in the U.S. Army and is on Veterans Affairs Disability pay, but the family still has an emergent financial situation.
Chris serves as full-time caregiver to his wife and does remodeling work.
“I work when I can,” he said.
Both of their sons attend Town & Country Elementary School, which has been helping the family since the fire. The Southern Arizona Chapter of the American Red Cross has put the family up at a local hotel since the fire.
“Actually, the Red Cross has been taking care of us. They took care of us immediately as far as that,” Chris said.
Their youngest son has a mild-to-moderate autism diagnosis and has taken the loss of the home and essentially all the family’s belongings better than his older brother, their parents said.
Their youngest does miss his Tony Stewart race car toys, his father said.
“Just about the only thing we got saved was the kids’ bikes. They got a little melted, but we can get a new seat, new peddles and new tires,” Chris said.
During the fire, the bikes were in the back yard, closest to the back fence.
“We’re taking it one day at a time,” he said.
Amanda and her service dog were out of the house at the time of the fire. Of the family’s other two pet dogs, they took one to the pound after moving into the hotel indefinitely, and the other remains unaccounted for, though the Herzog’s former neighbors told them they had seen their other pet since the fire.
“My cane, my walker, everything was lost in the fire,” she said.
Like the fire investigators, the family is not able to make much use of what’s left in the rubble. It is evident the destroyed home with a collapsed roof and unsteady flooring remains has been picked through by scavengers, who have removed such things as wrought-iron bars presumably to pawn, they said.
“There was nothing salvageable anyway,” she said.
Herald/Review reporter Gentry Braswell can be reached at 515-4680 or by e-mail at gentry.braswell@svherald.com.
know this family wrote on Nov 20, 2007 8:22 AM: