HOLLAND (WHTC-AM/FM) — Karyn Lozano and her boyfriend are picking up the pieces after a disastrous house fire.
They’re dealing with insurance adjusters and the reality of irreplaceable losses, like the stool her late brother made for her while he was in high school, while juggling their jobs and trying to get organized before Lozano’s two sons return from an out-of-state visit with their dad.
The June 23 fire started in the garage after 10 p.m., she said, adding that her boyfriend smelled smoke as he was getting out of the shower. She’d gone to bed early that night, but got up to investigate with him. They spotted smoke in the the kitchen, and when he opened the door to the attached garage, it billowed in. The two scrambled in response, first trying to get the garage door open from outside, getting their two dogs out of the house. She rushed to a neighbor’s house to call 911, having left her phone in the basement bedroom. He tried getting the hose working to attack the fire, but the hose, attached to the opposite side of the house, couldn’t get close enough to the fire. He ran inside, grabbing keys to one of their two cars, moving it out of the driveway.
Before the ruins could be covered with a tarp, a series of heavy rainstorms swept across the state, flooding her home. Getting an insurance adjuster was nearly impossible, Lozano said, because they’d all been sent to Wayne and Washtenaw counties, where flooding had reached disaster levels. The adjuster visited her home this week.
Now, the couple are living in a hotel, trying to figure out meals, insurance, sorting through the few salvageable belongings recovered so far.
Lozano said recovering from a house fire is far-more complicated than filing out insurance forms and washing the smoky smells out of salvaged clothing. She wants people to know if they have a house fire, to leave as quickly as possible and call 911.
“Don’t go back for anything,” she said, explaining firefighters will go in after the fire is out to help recover possessions.
She also encourages anyone with an attached garage to install a smoke detector, saying the damage may have been limited to the garage had they found the fire earlier.
Lozano said there are two fundraisers underway for the family. One is a GoFundMe account, the other is happening at Gude Goodies all day today, July 15, 2021.
The bakery owners are giving all proceeds from bakery case sales (not future orders) to the family. Roza Barajas, one of the bakery’s four co-owners, said there was no question about helping the family.
She said they made extra treats for the bakery case, and the effort is to support community. She expects the bakery will be open until at least six tonight, adding that they’ll stay open if the shop is busy at that time.
Gude Goodies is at 587 E. Eighth Street in Holland, in the same strip mall as the Secretary of State’s office.
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