ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. --
A Pine Hills mother said her family got so sick of the smoke detector going off in their home, they shut it off, only to be woken up Monday morning by smoke filling up their house on Floradel Place.
The fire started inside the converted garage. It appeared that the family was using it as a recreation room and storage area. Firefighters said it was left in no condition for a family to live, much less a family of six.
Viergena Adlophe said she woke up Monday morning to the smell of the smoke and found the family's converted garage on fire.
"There was smoke everywhere and it was so hot. We tried to get water in there, but it wasn't doing anything. We couldn't even see because the smoke was coming so fast," she said.
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Viergena and her family all escaped safely, but many of their possessions are now gone. Firefighters were still searching for the cause of the fire, even bringing their dog Misty to search for any sign of an accelerant.For now, they only have their suspicions.
"That somewhere over here, something electrical smoldered for a while," said Batt. Chief Brian Morrow, Orange County Fire Rescue.
It was a tragic coincidence, firefighters said, that the fire should happen Monday. Just this weekend, Viergena said, she turned the smoke alarm in the room off after it kept malfunctioning. When the real fire began, they had no warning and it's lucky they got out alive.
"It's unbelievable, it's just unbelievable," Viergena said.
Two firefighters were injured while fighting the blaze. They were pulling out windows to try to let some of the smoke out and suffered cuts to the hand and the head.
The family is doing fine physically. They're meeting with social workers and Red Cross volunteers to figure out where they'll be spending the night.
