THE MOTHER OF FIVE CHILDREN WHO PERISHED in a house fire Monday night is still hospitalized, but the entire community of Citra, Florida, has come together to help her out.  Tuesday morning, Firegeezer reported HERE on the devastating fire that rapidly consumed the old, wood frame house near Ocala, and trapped the five children, ages 6 to 15, of Krista Jordan.

The Gainesville Sun is reporting on the community support so far:

Memorial service details announced: It will be at 4 p.m. Monday at Living Waters Worship Center, 3801 N. U.S. 441.  A burial will be announced at a later date.  The Citra Cemetery Committee has donated eight burial plots.  Ocala Marble and Granite is donating headstones.  Roberts Funeral Homes Downtown Chapel in Ocala is handling the arrangements; it has donated its services at no cost.

Helping the family: Pardee Storage Center, 3065 NW Blitchton Road in Ocala, has donated a unit or two to anyone who would like to donate items to the family.  Bring items to the storage facility; the goods will be stored until the family finds somewhere to live.

A representative from McDonald’s, where the children’s mother is a manager, said the company is working with a bank to try and set up a trust fund. Final details still are being ironed out.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, there will be a fish fry benefit at First Baptist Church of Citra off U.S. 301. Proceeds go to the family.

In addition, family members have contracted with an attorney to investigate the cause of the fire.  The local fire marshal has found three possible causes, but cannot pinpoint one because of the destruction.   They have concentrated on a space heater plugged into a faulty plug, plus a clothes laundry basket left sitting on the space heater power cord, along with a collection of cigarette butts found in the debris near the point of origin.

 The investigation is explained in this video report from WESH-TV Ch. 2:

The St. Petersburg Times has a good follow-up article HERE.

It is apparent from the video report above that the lawyer is going to delve into the home’s wiring.  A previous tenant has told the Gainesville Sun:

The 39-year-old auto body repairman, who rented the home at 1760 NE 182nd Place several years ago, said it was riddled with electrical problems at that time.  And despite pleading with the owner’s rental company to fix the wiring in the 80-year-old home, Hickman said his requests were repeatedly rebuffed.

“I said, ‘It’s kicking breakers. It could catch fire.’ I told them several times,” Hickman said Thursday.  You could maybe have a TV plugged into one outlet and a lamp in another,” he said. “You had to strategically plug things in at different places. Anything more, you’d pop a breaker.”

Firegeezer adds:  Let’s keep an eye on this potential legal claim on the faulty wiring.  The lawyer points out that the walls were so riddled with termite damage that once the fire started, it spread through the walls unusually fast.  It will undoubtedly take a couple of years to work its way through the courts, but if they follow through on this line and get a judgement partially for the volatility of the wall construction, then could there be similar claims for fires in homes built with the “wood chips and glue” lightweight construction?