Jimmy Flores Receives Phone Call From His Mother, One of Several Waves of Grief and Emotion During our Conversation.
This article has been updated to include charitable and event information (at the bottom).
Written by Joshua Fryfogle
The outlet sparked.
It sparked.
Raising concerns that anyone would have, this moment rings as more significant now.
Jimmy Flores called the landlord, texted, but he says the landlord was reluctant. He was told to fix it himself, but Jimmy is no electrician. Finally, after three days of asking, the landlord replaced the outlet, without diagnosing the root problem.
Why did it spark?
This is one of many safety issues that the family of seven was bound to by rental agreement.
The struggle with the landlord continued, and eventually led the family to court. This created a public record showing Jimmy and Janelle's rental history as tarnished, which prevented them from finding another place. They couldn't find another place to move to.
According to Jimmy, the Judge told his landlord that the property was "uninhabitable", compelling him to fix the property.
Things loosened up after that, and the family was able to make a plan to move out. They would have been out in 8 days.
That morning, Jimmy, the girls' father, was at work - he had just started his new job. Janelle, the girls' mom, needed to borrow her mother's vehicle that day, so while 4 girls slept, and the 12 year old Alexis was getting ready for school that morning, Janelle dropped her mom off at her job at 7:00 am. By the time she got home minutes later, the home was gone, along with their precious girls.
The fire marshal told them that it burned in 10 minutes, that no one could have escaped.
The family reached out to this writer, through a mutual friend, to set the record straight. I met with the father, Jimmy Flores, and Janelle's mother, Susan Secco.
"I want to thank everyone for their kindness, but I can't even go on to social media...", says grandmother Susan Secco.
The heartless and cruel comments of internet trolls, hiding their heartlessness behind their computer screens, immediately started seeding the comment threads with speculative and offensive assumptions. If you are human, you can surely understand how this tragedy doesn't need speculative commentary. The family just wants an investigation to set things straight, and find out exactly what happened.
This article is part of that effort, to clear the air.
A donation account has been set up at MVFCU - Account number 158068. Please consider donating to this family in this time of tragedy.
They need us.
DONATE:
A donation account has been set up at MVFCU (Account Number 158068).
Donation Page:
www.facebook.com/donate/897002680463600/
GoFundMe Pages:
www.gofundme.com/quackenbushflores-girls-fund
www.gofundme.com/helpjanelleandjimmy
Shear Fire Design in Palmer is accepting monetary donations and gift cards ONLY!
Great Clips in Wasilla and Palmer will match whatever is donated in MONETARY donations for the next couple of weeks. They are accepting monetary donations and gift cards ONLY!
EVENTS:
Pyra's Pioneer Peak Pumpkin Chucking Event
www.facebook.com/pyrahspioneerpeakfarm/
Candlelight Vigil Link
www.facebook.com/events/1458539337563832
Klondike Mike's Spaghetti Dinner
www.facebook.com/events/1907130902885605??ti=ia
Four Corners Lounge – Pig Roast/Music Fundraiser
www.facebook.com/events/471220869928805/?ti=icl
Butte Elementary - Spaghetti Feed Fundraiser: On September 22nd at 5pm-7pm. Cost is $5 for kids and $10 for adults.
Official Memorial Page Link
www.facebook.com/FloresQuackenbush5/
