LA MESA, Calif. (KGTV) - A San Diego Police Department sergeant is hoping to create awareness about dryers and potential fire risks after his La Mesa home burned down last week.
Just before 10 p.m. last Thursday, a motion-activated camera inside the Nguyen family's garage off University Avenue shows a spark near the bottom of their dryer before it catches fire.
“We were sitting at the kitchen table smelled smoke,” said Nick Nguyen.
After Nick Nguyen and his wife, Sarah Jeltema, searched for the source, Nguyen is seen grabbing a fire extinguisher from the kitchen, as the smoke builds.
Jeltema gathers their pets and leaves, as Nick seemingly puts out the fire.
But minutes later, the fire reappeared, as the couple spotted flames on the roof.
"What we didn't know, was the fire had gotten into the walls and into the attic. At that point, I realized, we were going to lose the entire house,” said Jeltema.
Her fears became true, as fire consumed the home. While her family is safe, almost everything was lost.
“We're very grateful, but losing everything you own is just very difficult,” said an emotional Sarah Jeltema.
Nguyen, an SDPD sergeant and 18-year veteran with the force, said, “I’m proud my training helped me keep my family safe, but how do you pick up the pieces? That’s the hard part, is not knowing … There is a sense of powerlessness I feel, and I’m not used to … It feels soul crushing."
Sarah also feeling her own heartbreak. A whiskey content creator, she lost all her equipment and inventory.
Supplies for the couple's nonprofit, First Responder Whiskey Society, which creates whiskey-inspired tributes to benefit the families of fallen first responders, were also wiped out.
Nearly 50 of those bottles were not salvageable, along with everything else, after a spark from a dryer.
“We had always replaced our lint trap, but it was just an old dryer,” said Jeltema.
Jeltema says while the exact issue hasn't been determined, the dryer, which came with the house, was at least seven years old. When a part broke, they opted to repair it instead of buying a new one. It’s a decision they regret.
“It was old, and we knew it was old, and we were just trying to get every bit of life out of it,” said Jeltema.
“500, 600 bucks is a lot cheaper than several hundred thousand,” said Nguyen.
Each year, dryers are the cause of more than 15,000 house fires in the U.S.
A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help with living and rebuilding expenses.
