A family of four lost all their clothing and personal belongings Thursday, Oct. 1 in a late-night rural Atalissa fire likely caused by faulty electric wiring.
Norma and Calvin Flater, their daughter Valerie Flater Johnson and adult granddaughter Alexis, 24, are homeless and living in a motel in Muscatine after losing “everything we had” in the fire that was discovered at approximately 10:30 p.m., the family just getting ready for bed.
“We were so surprised. It got so smoky so fast,” said Norma Flater, noting everyone escaped without injury, the elderly parents and their granddaughter going out the back door while their daughter escaped through the front door. Norma said for a while, they couldn’t locate Valerie, Alexis going back into the home numerous times to try to find her. “The black smoke and heat were so bad,” Lexi said, noting she had taken a garden hose and stuck it through her bedroom window where the main blaze had begun. She said they finally located Valarie at the front of the three-bedroom ranch. "We had yelled and yelled for her, but didn't get an answer," said the grandmother, saying her and Lexi "foolishly" crawled back into the house to see if they could locate her, but the smoke and heat was too much.
In the beginning
Norma Flater said they were talking in two separate rooms when all the fire alarms in the house went off, thinking they were resetting because they had done so at other times. But the alarms were actually working well, the fire believed to have started in the wall of a bedroom area on the southeast corner of the home, putting a haze throughout the house that the family quickly realized and called 9-1-1 immediately.
The grandmother said she opened the door to her granddaughter’s bedroom to find flames shooting from her bed and that’s when they quickly exited, although trying to douse the flames with water in the beginning.
It was about 15-20 minutes later that the Atalissa Fire Department arrived, followed by the West Liberty Fire Department and a pair of ambulances. She said by that time, flames were shooting out of the house "When you're excited, it seems like it takes forever," she said of waiting for the fire trucks to arrive.
The fire fighters arrives just minutes behind a Muscatine County Sheriff Deputy who arrived on the scene first, instructing walker-bound Calvin Flater, who was holding the door open to relieve the house of smoke, to get away from the home, a dangerous propane tank stationed not far from the area.
Although Norma said the ambulances served as an aid to the family mentally on a cold night, there were no injuries except Lexi having some syringed hair from the heat and ashes were all over Norma after her attempt to return to the house.
The retired farm couple, who have been married 60 years, had lived in the home since 1965 and said they’ve never experienced anything as devastating as the house fire, saying they were “mostly in shock” and upset with what a family has to go through following such an ordeal.
'You're life is practically gone'
Norma said it has been tough both mentally and physically. “At first, you can’t believe it. Then you start thinking about things you’ve lost. Everything’s gone – papers, photos, memories,” she said. “You’re life if practically gone.”
She compared the feeling to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) saying one moment “You think you’re okay.” The next, just the opposite.
Although the fire departments had the scene, including dousing flames that were coming from the back side of the home and through the roof, under control well before midnight the home was burned so badly, it was deemed unsafe for occupancy and an American Red Cross agent set the family up that night at the Hampton Inn in Muscatine for at least seven days.
The Flaters said their insurance took over from there, extending the stay until Nov. 6, but the family says there is a possibility of renting a home in West Liberty through some friends.
The couple says they’re thinking about rebuilding, noting the foundation of the home, which had a full basement, is still solid, but the family still has a mortgage on the house.
Flater did report the family lost two pet cats in the fire, both dying from smoke inhalation according to firemen who located the animals in the home.
Relief fund set up for family
A relief fund has been set up for the family at MidWestOne Bank in West Liberty and the family says donations, including clothing, have already been helping. Cindy Mays, Market President of MidWest One, said the fund was set up to help the family until they can get back on their feet. Donations can be sent to MidWest One Bank, P.O. Box 145, West Liberty 52776.
The Flaters said the home doesn’t look so bad from the highway, sitting off F70 on 155th Street about 2.5 miles east of the Cedar Valley Methodist Church. They are waiting on their insurance provider before they decide to rebuild or relocate.
She said they were sitting at the front of the house getting aid and watching the fire fighters do their work and never realized how bad the fire got on the backside of the home, where most of the damage was done.
The family said they lost some valuable mementos in the fire including a third generation sewing machine and other antiques, as well as tools and various collectibles. “Over 60 years, you collect a lot of things,” Norma Flater said.
She said the family also lost a lot of trophies and ribbons from showing mini-horses through the years. She did say they got an opportunity to go back into the home later in the week, but there was little to salvage. The only space not affected by flames was a bedroom and bathroom on the west side of the house, where the door had been shut.
“The community has been wonderful.” Norma Flater said, pointing out friends and neighbors have all shown support by providing food, clothing and financial aid.
“You accomplish so much more by the love you develop between community, friends and neighbors,” she said, noting it hasn’t been easy for the family this year with Calvin developing cancer and other health problems, which is why their daughter is living with them. As members of the Cedar Valley church, fellow parishioners have also pitched in to aid the family with food and clothing.
“I count us fortunate,” she said, thanking the first responders for their efforts in saving what they could of the home “We’re alive and we have each other. That’s all that matters.”
