By KRIS HILL
Suril Plesha had just put her 18 month old twin boys down from a nap when she went outside to retrieve the groceries from her car.
As soon as she stepped into her driveway she heard cries for help coming from a house across the street in the Timberlane neighborhood in Covington.
When she got to the front yard one of the children of her new neighbors — they had just moved in a few days earlier — was standing in the front yard of the house which was on fire.
“It was pretty much a full blown blaze by (then),” Plesha said. “I asked (the father) where his other kids were and he said they were out back.”
Plesha tried the front door but said it was “hotter than hot” and the gate to the back yard was locked.
“I didn’t know how we were going to get the kids out that were in the back yard,” she said. “The adrenaline kicked in and I was able to whack open the gate. We were able to get the kids out of the back yard. It all happened so fast.”
The fire destroyed the home and displaced a family of six Thursday. It was determined to be an accident by Fire District 37 investigators.
Fire department officials said the blaze started in the kitchen due to cooking and quickly spread to the rest of the house. Damage has been estimated by authorities at $250,000.
The blaze was first reported at 11:20 a.m. Six people – two adults and four children – were at home but escaped safely, though all six were sent to a local hospital as a medical precaution due to smoke inhalation, according to a spokesman for Fire District 37, while two other adult residents were not home at the time.
“It was crazy how quick it all happened,” Plesha said. “It was completely instinct. I had talked to his wife a couple days prior, we both had twins. They seemed like really nice people.”
Plesha said that by the time Ramon Jones-Parks, the father, realized the house was on fire the family was in trouble. He suffered issues related to smoke inhalation, she said, and appeared to be dazed and confused after he and his children escaped the house.
“From what he was telling me, by the time he realized there was a fire, it was pretty full blown so he had to crawl through the smoke to save his daughters,” Plesha said. “The family is going to need everything. They’re completely starting over.”
District officials said the single-story structure was heavily damaged by the fire. Flames were shooting out of windows and doorways when firefighters arrived. The smoke column could be seen for miles, according to the district.
The residents said there were working smoke alarms in the house, though it’s unclear whether they played a part in warning the family of the fire, officials reported.
Plesha has encouraged friends and neighbors to contribute to the family as it recovers.
She is also working with Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship to take in donations.
The twin boys, Ramon Junior and Tyron, will need “bottles, sippy cups, diapers, probably a size four, wipes, lotions, shampoos” and all of the children will need new toys, new clothes while the entire family will need new furniture.
In addition to the twins, mom Jameela Parks has two daughters, Zamaya, 2 1/2, and Zijah, 4, as well as her nephew, Ellis, 14.
“The little girls are really into Dora the Explorer,” Plesha said. “One of the girls was devastated because her Dora blanket was destroyed in the fire.”
Karen Evans, operations manager for Mountain Vineyard, said the community effort among Timberlane to help the Jones-Parks family has been key so far.
“Neighbors helping neighbors,” Evans said. “The thing that makes this unique is that the people who are doing a lot of the giving and helping are people who have very little to give themselves.But yet they are giving anyway. Jameela has said to Suril on a couple of occasions, ‘Why is everyone helping me? They don’t know me.'”
WANT TO HELP?
Donations for the Jones Parks family are welcome. Mountain Vineyard Christian Fellowship will be collecting donations for the family. For information call (253) 631-6886.
