Fire Deals Blow to Family Putting Struggles in Past

Thursday, December 04 2008 @ 07:12 pm EST

Contributed by: CBrining

From the Atlantic City Press Published: Thursday, December 04, 2008

By LYNDA COHEN Staff Writer, 609-272-7257

ATLANTIC CITY - Darlene Alston was looking for a new start. She and her five children had been through a lot, but everything was starting to come together. They were so excited about Christmas, they had the holiday decorations up even before Thanksgiving.

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"We were embracing the holiday," Alston said. "It was a new start. A better year for us."

But by noon Wednesday, Alston was standing across the street from her home in the 1900 block McKinley Avenue, watching as firefighters cleared the smoke from a second-floor fire. Glass was smashed out of every window, the side black from fire, her green foil holiday door cover torn from where firefighters busted into the home.

Nala - the family's 2-year-old dog - was in the home alone when the fire started. She gave the firefighters a bit of a fight as they tried to rescue her, Fire Chief Dennis Brooks said. Later, by Alston's side, the dog was calm, happily complying when a stranger reached down to pet her.

The 11:30 a.m. blaze destroyed the home's attic and most of the second floor, including three bedrooms, Brooks said. It took about a half-hour to get the flames under control, but firefighters stayed on the scene to clear the smoke and investigate the cause. Alston had just finished grocery shopping when she got a call: "Your house is on fire," she was told.

The year had started out well. Alston returned to Atlantic City with her five children ages 10 to 13 - including 12-year-old twins - about a year and a half ago. At that point, they had just Nala and a car. For the first five months, they had no home of their own. Then, they got the pretty two-story white house with large front windows.

"Things were just starting to really come together," Alston said.

It was a nice place where the neighbors seem to look out for one another. Like Arthur Couthen.

Because there have been nearby robberies, Couthen - whose North Ohio Avenue home backs Alston's - walks through the alley to McKinley Avenue at least twice each day, he said. Wednesday morning, he knew something was wrong.

"I just saw smoke and flames," he said. "I backed up and saw it was coming out of the top bedroom in the rear."

Couthen immediately called 911 and knocked on the door to see if anyone was home. No one answered.

When firefighters arrived, they broke open the door and started their work. Including rescuing the dog.

Last month, an accident left the family without a vehicle. Now, the home has an estimated $250,000 in damages. The attic and second floor are a near loss. The first floor has water damage - and a hole in the kitchen's ceiling.

Firefighter Keith Scattone fell through the floor of the back bedroom while battling the smoke and flames.

"He wound up in the kitchen," Brooks said.

But the firefighter kept working at the scene.

A cause has not yet been determined.

"Pretty much everything we had we accumulated since we got here," Alston said. "To come and see that most of it's going, it's hard."

But she has faith.

"I believe that everything is a test and God has a plan," she said.

The Red Cross will provide a place for the family to stay until they can move back into the home.

"There's a lot of work that would have to be done" for the family to move back in, Brooks said. "I don't see them getting in there any time soon."

"I really just don't want my kids to have to suffer," Alston said, tears starting to stream down her face. "If you can go home, everything else doesn't matter, you know.

"But there's a lot of people that love us," she added. "We're strong in our faith."

E-mail Lynda Cohen: LCohen@pressofac.co

Anyone who would like to help the Alston family is asked to call Yvette Soto, American Red Cross Atlantic/Cumberland director, at 609-646-8330.