Community comes together to help CT firefighter's family after devastating house fire
FAIRFIELD, CT (WABC) -- An incredible show of support for a firefighter and his family in Connecticut after they lost everything in a fire just days after Christmas.
Firefighter Mike Mentes was at work when the fire sparked.
Luckily three daughters were at a sleepover, but his wife was forced to jump to safety from a window with the family's pets.
There's gratitude no one was hurt, but a gathering to support the family whose house was heavily damaged by a fire, was not a happy occasion.
Jessica Mentes was woken up by a blaring smoke detector at 3 a.m. on Sunday.
"I sat upright took two steps and turned on the lights and there was smoke over my head. I knew I had to go and went out the window," Mentes said.
Mentes was home alone because her husband Mike was at work, on duty as a Bridgeport firefighter.
The fire is believed to be electrical in nature.
Elected officials along with the Bridgeport and Fairfield fire departments are helping to raise money for the family.
"Mike is truly one of the good ones. Mike has spent 17 years as a Bridgeport firefighter, we hope that he has another 17 years left, Chief Lance Edwards said.
"It is a way for us to say that we value you, that you're important and that you're part of an institution that is saving lives and you lost everything," said State Senator Tony Hwang
A GoFundMe page has raised over $20,000 for someone who is used to helping others rather than being the center of attention.
"There are a million people out there who have zero support system, you get into some of the communities where I work in Bridgeport and they don't even know their neighbors so they wouldn't have all this help and all these neighbors, they wouldn't know what to do," Mike Mentes said.
"We really feel loved, we are so thankful for all of the support and the kind of stuff we've been given," Jessica Mentes said.
Even in their time of need the family wants to pay it forward by planning to contribute some of the funds donated to them to the program that distributes free smoke detectors throughout Fairfield.
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