SAN DIEGO — A La Mesa couple dedicated to helping the families of fallen first responders is now in need of help too, after a fire gutted their home.
The fire broke out Friday around 9:45 p.m.
"I was with my wife, we were having dinner late in the evening, we started smelling smoke," said Sgt. Nick Nguyen, an 18-year veteran of the San Diego Police Department.
Surveillance cameras from inside his home captured the smoke, pouring into the kitchen. The fire started in the dryer, located inside the couple's garage.
Sgt. Nguyen told his wife Sarah to gather their pets and get out. He used a fire extinguisher to put out what he could in the dryer, but the fire had already spread.
"Actually seeing it in surveillance camera footage of how quickly it happened is pretty nuts," he said. "Because at the time, it felt like it took forever."
Cell phone video shot after the fire was out shows the charred aftermath. The inside of their home of seven years is covered in ashes.
"With my line of work I respond to a lot of structure fires, I respond to a lot of, kind of the worst moments of peoples lives. There's a a certain amount of detachment I have from that because it's my job. When it happens to me, it's very sombering, it kind of brings it back home," he said.
Sgt. Nguyen's wife, Sarah Jeltema, a former dispatcher turned whisky social media influencer, runs a charity called "First Responder Whisky Society," to raise money for families of fallen first responders. Her home office and supplies are now gone.
The couple's home was built back in the 1940s. Because of asbestos and lead in it, anything that was salvaged must be decontaminated, which can be expensive.
However, Sgt. Nguyen is just grateful he, his wife and his pets made it out alive.
A GoFundMe account has been created for the couple. If you would like to help out, click here.
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