NICHOLASVILLE, Ky. (LEX 18) — On Wednesday, Steve Whitaker’s home went up in flames. On Thursday, he assessed the damage, coming to terms with the fact that he’s left with nothing.
“How to recover from this…I don't know. I've lived here all my life. Everything I've ever known or had is here. Don't know what we're gonna do,” said Whitaker.
Crews responded to Whitaker’s home on Cool Breeze Drive in Nicholasville around 3:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Firefighters said the trailer was fully engulfed when they arrived.
Whitaker believes the fire sparked from a short in a power strip.
“I woke up to the sound of the fire,” said Whitaker. “I looked out and it was already up the ceiling, I tried putting it out but the smoke started getting the best of me and I couldn't.”
Whitaker and his girlfriend made it out of the trailer, but their dog did not. A pig also died on site.
Princeton Cutwright, living in an adjacent home, said he woke up to shouting around 4 in the morning.
“When I first came back here, all I saw were flames,” said Cutwright. “Then I saw the homeowners running around like ‘No, no!’ they just didn't know what to do. We tried to get them to hop the fence just to get them out first.”
In the heat of the moment, neighbors didn’t hesitate to help Whitaker and his girlfriend, but as the soot settles, tensions are rising.
When Whitaker’s trailer caught fire, it spread to the homes on either side, destroying the entire back side of each house.
Dolores Ortiz Ruiz, who owns the home Cutwright lives in, said she’d filed multiple complaints about Whitaker burning garbage in the wee hours of the morning.
She believes the fire at Whitaker’s home started from one of these bonfires. She also thinks the outcome was only a matter of time.
In a heated exchange across the fence that divides their properties, Whitaker said to Ortiz Ruiz, “I don’t know what to say. I expect you should have home insurance.”
Neither Whitaker nor Ortiz Ruiz have home insurance, but she told LEX 18 that she’s left with more than a material loss. She’s lost years of sacrifice in trying to build a better life.
“Sometimes I don't buy shoes, sometimes I don't buy clothes. I put all that money in the house,” said Ortiz Ruiz.
As neighbors wait to hear the outcome of an investigation on the fire, all that’s certain is that no one wins in this scenario.
