Imagine losing nearly everything at age 72. That’s what happened to a retired Fairfax County deputy in March when his home burned to the ground.
Dan DePalma’s neighbors say he spent his career helping others, so now they are trying to help him rebuild.
DePalma bought his home just after retiring from the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office in 2005. He says it was after midnight March 21 when he was awakened by his alarm system.
“I went downstairs, kicked the garage door open and was just hit by a ball of flames,” he said. “I looked and the recliner, the seat on the cushion was fully engulfed […] and the flames were shooting up to the ceiling, billowing out.”
DePalma says by the time he fled out a back door and went around to the front, flames were already through the roof. By the time volunteer fire crews reached his mountainside home outside Winchester, Virginia, it was too late — all his belongings destroyed, and his cat, Chloe, was killed in the fire.
When asked what hurts the most, he said, “Besides my cat, I would say all the hand-me-down stuff from my parents. […] All my memorabilia from the sheriff’s department is all gone, so nothing left.”
One of the first people DePalma called in those early morning hours was neighbor Beth Shalap.
“It just really was gut wrenching to see what he was going through,” Shalap said.
While gut wrenching, DePalma wants to rebuild in the same place. It’s easy to see why — mountain views, hundreds of irises and other plants he’s tended to in retirement and
the beautiful stone walls he built himself.
“Everything you see here I actually put here with my own two hands,” DePalma said. “That’s the hard thing if I was to move.”
But DePalma discovered his insurance policy settlement won’t cover the full cost of a rebuild.
“And so his house burnt to the ground, and it was insured for what it was originally insured for 21 years earlier,” Shalap said.
And that’s where Shalap jumped in, researching and setting up a fundraiser on a special site for first responders called Fund the First.
“He is so deserving,” Shalap said. “I mean, he spent his entire adult life serving the public.”
Shalap’s hoping the fund takes off. DePalma says he’s grateful for the clothes provided by friends at the nearby food pantry where he volunteers and money other residents collected. Shalap says it took some arm twisting to get him to agree to the fund.
“I feel funny about even doing this interview,” DePalma said. “I’m usually the one helping people, not the one needing help, and unfortunately that’s what I need right now is help.”
After his experience, he has advice for other homeowners: Be sure to update your insurance policy each year to make sure it’s covering current replacement value.
DePalma is hoping to have his home rebuilt in time for winter. In the meantime, one thing here remains unchanged — his American flag stands sentry next to the house, somehow flying undamaged through it all.
from Local – NBC4 Washington https://ift.tt/0BH4h3m
0 Comments