News, Waterford

Family displaced after Christmas fire

This photo, taken from the GoFundMe page for Jesse Koller and Jessie Ray, shows the couple’s fully en-gulfed home early Saturday morning. The home was completely destroyed. (Submitted Photo)
This photo, taken from the GoFundMe page for Jesse Koller and Jessie Ray, shows the couple’s fully engulfed home early Saturday morning. The home was completely destroyed. (Submitted Photo)

By Jennifer Eisenbart

Editor

When Jesse Koller and Jessie Ray went to bed on Christmas Day, it was with the satisfaction of a good holiday.

“We were just kind of relaxing around the house,” said Koller. “We hung out as a family.”

A few hours later, their lives drastically changed. At about 2 a.m. Dec. 26, the couple’s home on North Tichigan Road caught fire, presumably because of something electric.

By the time fire personnel arrived on scene, it was clear the home could not be saved.

“When we got there, it was pretty much fully involved,” said Tichigan Fire Chief Dave Wagner. “It was a defensive operation.”

But the family of four escaped the home unharmed – thanks to the actions of the couple’s 14-year-old son, Peyton.

“He was actually sleeping on the couch,” Ray said. “His sister had kinda given him a hard time. ‘You’ve got a bed,’ she said.”

Ray said her son shrugged and said he wanted to sleep on the couch.

“Thank goodness he did,” she added.

The heat of the fire melted the drop ceiling in the living room, which dripped onto Peyton and woke him up.

Ray estimated it took less than a minute to evacuate the house with her husband, Peyton and the couple’s daughter, Aubrey.

“We were running through fire to get out,” she said. “There was nothing we could do.”

Unfortunately, the family had to leave behind three cats and a dog. None of the four survived.

The fire eventually required a MABUS box alarm call from the Tichigan Fire Department. Wagner said that companies from Waterford, Rochester, Big Bend, Wind Lake, Mukwonago, East Troy, Raymond, Kansasville and the City and Town of Burlington all responded, as well as the Racine County Sheriff’s Department.

Wagner called the home a “total loss.” Ray said simply, “there’s nothing.”

The family has been staying at the AmericInn in Burlington since the fire, though they were scheduled to move to the Baymont Inn in Waterford on Tuesday.

Ray said she is beyond thankful for all the help the family has received, and Koller agreed.

“We were all in the hospital, getting checked out,” Koller said. “From there, the hospital asked us if we wanted any help from the Red Cross.”

Koller said a debit card from the Red Cross got them their hotel rooms. He also said that Waterford Union High School has helped immensely, led by choir director Derek Malchan.

“The principal actually called us (Monday),” Koller said, reassuring the family that costs would be covered for materials lost in the fire.

Fortunately, clothes have come in through a variety of sources – so much so that Koller joked that he has more clothes now than he did before the fire.

A GoFundMe page has also been set up, and can be found by searching “Family Lost Everything in Xmas fire.”

More than $5,000 had been raised as of Monday. Koller said the immediate needs are covered, and the family does have a vehicle since their daughter left a spare key in her car.

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