TEMPLE, Texas (KXXV) — A volunteer firefighter lost his Temple home in a fire just after Christmas. The community is rallying with donations at Morgan's Point Resort Public Safety Center.
- A Morgan's Point Resort volunteer firefighter lost his home in a Temple fire that broke out Friday afternoon, just one day after Christmas.
- Fellow first responders and neighbors are collecting donations at the Morgan's Point Resort Public Safety Center to help the family get back on their feet.
- A GoFundMe campaign for the family has already raised more than $1,600, with donations being accepted at 6 Lake Forest Drive.
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BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A Morgan's Point Resort volunteer firefighter lost everything when flames engulfed his Temple home just one day after Christmas, prompting the local community and fellow first responders to organize donation drives to help the family get back on their feet.
The fire broke out Friday afternoon, with crews spending more than three hours battling the blaze that started in a shed before spreading to a parked car and eventually the house.
"It was a shed that was on fire, it was fully engulfed and had already spread to a parked car next to it and was moving to the house," said James Snyder, Battalion Chief for Morgan's Point Resort Fire.
Firefighters initially didn't know whose home they were trying to save, but later learned it belonged to one of their own volunteer firefighters.
"We didn't know whose house it was at first, quite frankly it doesn't matter to us because we have a job to do so whenever we show up we're going to do the job regardless," Snyder said.
The loss hit especially close to home for local first responders, who immediately began organizing community support for their colleague.
"The community always comes together to help each other out. In this case, our firefighter lost everything so we started reaching out to the community and our fellow departments to just ask for donations and things that people could give to the family to support them and get them back on their feet," Snyder said.
Donations are being accepted at the Morgan's Point Resort Public Safety Center, located at 6 Lake Forest Drive. The GoFundMe for the family has already raised more than $1,700.
"When something like this happens, you never think it's going to happen to you and when it happens to one of your own it's important to take care of them and show that not only do we appreciate their time and effort but just who they are and what they bring to the community," Snyder said.
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