A local family lost almost everything but their lives Sunday when fire destroyed their rural Perry home.
A fire in the home of Jon and Tiffany Hollingsworth of Perry began about 5:15 a.m. in the garage area and eventually consumed the entire single-family structure.
The Hollingworths and their young son, Jaxon, 3, escaped uninjured from the blaze at 16135 G Ave. southwest of Perry, wearing nothing but “the clothes on their backs,” said Perry First Assistant Fire Chief Brian Eiteman. “No shoes.”
According to Perry Fire Chief Chris Hinds, Tiffany Hollingsworth woke to the odor of smoke and alerted her husband, who went to investigate the odor.
Jon Hollingsworth “walked through the house to the kitchen, where the door opened into the garage,” Hinds said. “Jon said when he opened the the door to the garage, a blast of fire blew through the doorway from the garage into the kitchen. Jon said he was unable to get the door to the garage closed again.”
Hinds said the fire spread quickly through the single-story house, built in 1990.
“Upon our arrival, the house appeared to be fully engulfed by flame,” he said, “and the garage was already on the ground. By all reports from the family and as the evidence shows, the fire started in the garage and spread to the remainder of the house when Jon opened the door from the house to the garage in search of the source of the smoke that was in the house.”
Firefighters were able to control the fire long enough to allow other firefighters to enter portions of the house and recover some of the family’s personal items.
“We managed to hold the fire at bay long enough to remove Christmas presents and any personal items we could find,” Eiteman said. “Lost were two dogs and one of two cats. The second cat was rescued and given oxygen. He was given back to the family with minor smoke inhalation and a little singed fur but no worse for wear.”
Hinds said the cause of the fire is undetermined and may never be known due to the complete burning of the attached garage and its contents.
“There were only two electrical appliances in operation in the garage at the time of the fire,” Hinds said, “a refrigerator and an electric dog pad. It is highly likely that one of these two items may have been the cause of the fire, most likely the electric dog pad.”
The Dallas County Sheriff’s office and the Dallas County EMS also responded to the fire.
Eiteman said he summoned the American Red Cross to assist the bereft Hollingworths, but “they refused help,” he said. “They said that there are a lot of people who actually need help, and they were not those people. They are good people. They were appreciative for what we did, and they are very humble.”
He said the Hollingsworths are now in a hotel room and working with their insurance company on more permanent dwellings until they can rebuild. Informal efforts by their friends and well wishers in the community are being made on behalf of the Hollingsworths in their Christmastime tragedy.
