A family of six, including four children, lost their home to a middle-of-the-night fire on Longfellow Drive in Palm Coast early this morning, and a 21-year-old woman was taken to Halifax hospital with serious injuries.
The 21 year old had gone back into the house in an attempt to rescue pets but was able to rescue only one dog. Other pets were lost, according to Palm Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill. A sheriff’s report referred to the presence of “a couple of pets” in the house.
“At this time it is unknown how the fire started,” a Flagler County Sheriff’s report states. “The suspicion is that the electric skimmers for the pool caught on fire and it quickly spread through the home.” The state fire marshal was called in, as was the Red Cross to coordinate care for the family.
Firefighters were called to 28 Longfellow Drive at 1 a.m. Brian and Lisa Bohan, 47 and 48, had bought the 3,100-foot, five bedroom house in 2018 for $315,000. The house was built in 2013. It was largely engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived. All occupants had left the house. Aside from the parents, the occupants included the 21-year-old woman, two boys, 17 and 15, and a 6-year-old girl.
“Upon arrival, we found heavy, heavy volume of fire coming out of the rear of the residence and through the roof,” Berryhill said, estimating that 75 percent of the house was involved in fire at that point. He described the situation as “untenable” for firefighters to make entry into the house. He said the 21 year old was in stable condition today.
“Our goal is to keep fires to the room of origin and protect life, but then some other incident priorities for us is to stabilize the situation and to protect all the property that we can,” the fire chief said. “In this situation, our best ability to do that was protect the other structures, and so that’s what our firefighters did.” The house is on a 10,000 square-foot lot, with houses on either side.
The emergency drew on significant responder resources, including the Sheriff’s Office, Flagler County Fire Rescues 24 and 22 and Battalion 40 from the county, with the Palm Coast Fire Department’s Battalion 24, Engine 23, Engine 21, Engine 22 and Tower 24.
For those who wish to help the family, the GoFundMe account is here.
Carol says
That’s so sad. My prayers go out to the family, especially the 21 year old.
JimboXYZ says
From the Zillow/Google aerial, the dwelling has quite a few solar panels. Perhaps, the solar panels & battery system for any electrical storage caught fire like a Tesla/EV ? The Flagler County property search indicates that was permitted & added in 2019 as PV solar that is off grid power, like what is used in solar farms. When the house is 75% engulfed when the Fire Department arrives, determining the originating cause of the fire is going to be a best guess ? This is another reason anytime the solar people come around I don’t want them on my roof. City can’t grow when the power grid is maxed out. And all of a sudden, as noble as solar programs are conceptually, they aren’t as safe as the one’s making the money to sell the system claim them to be. If the solar panel(s) cause a leak in the roof or the roof needs to be reshingled, the solar panels have to be removed to make simple roof repairs. I’m sure that’s quite expensive, as a solar panel system addition isn’t free or cheap in spite of the Federal Government’s programs that don’t exist. Also going to increase homeowners insurance premiums. Just too many reasons to avoid them to save a negligible amount on your power bill. It’s oddly amazing, when FPL comes around with their solar program sales people, they’ll tell you every one of your neighbors is getting one & then the roof tops tell the truth. That the few victims they did get to sign on are the only one’s with solar panels on their roofing. I don’t want them near my property. I’m not going to have a sense of humor about it when the neighborhood burns to the ground because someone saved $ 10/month, thinking they would get free electricity from the solar program. We all know what is saved by one consumer, others end up having to pay for. They’ll only raise the rates to cover that. Look at the Water Utility thing we’re going to have to live thru. And when houses burn down, insurance premiums increase too. The costs don’t justify the savings.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic_system
Atwp says
Thank God, the family members came out alive.
Dennis C Rathsam says
I have solar panels on my roof for 7 years! NO PROBLEM!!!! My lowest bill was $ 35,00 my highest was $ 145.00! WHATS YOUR ELECTRIC BILL JIMBO???????
DM Francis says
@ FLAGLER LIVE: Are there any local community resources coordinating help for the family for donations of clothing, food, household goods etc.? If so, please update.
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
I can’t imagine how devastated this family must be. Just wondering if there’s a GoFundMe to help them or if any of them need a place to stay, including their dog.
FlaglerLive says
Yes, the GoFundMe link has been added at the foot of the article.
JimboXYZ says
“I have solar panels on my roof for 7 years! NO PROBLEM!!!! My lowest bill was $ 35,00 my highest was $ 145.00! WHATS YOUR ELECTRIC BILL JIMBO???????”
The amount I pay, that’s relative to a lot of other factors for usage & kWH draw. I don’t leave lights on, even the tree line on my property limits the amount of direct sun that heats the roof and therefore would cause the HVAC to run more often for the summer peak draw on the grid. Some folks do laundry more often than others, hot water showers for more occupants. I’m an energy miser from the way parent’s raised me. There are some costs that can’t be avoided. My question would be, what were your power bills prior to Solar installation vs the figures you indicate for after Solar installation. Other questions, do you leave exterior lighting on, Holiday lighting ? I mean I don’t have Christmas lights that are on every year from Thanksgiving to New Year’s Day. I will say I have never paid $ 145/month for any FPL bill since 2019 and that’s even with rate hikes the State approved. I’m not even close to your max $ 145 & I cook 99% of my meals at home. I certainly pay enough & more than I care to for the current rates that FPL was approved to charge us all. The FPL bill, there’s going to be a minimum amount that is a cost whether 1 person occupies the dwelling or 5 people people live there. At a certain point occupancy of the dwelling matters, as each person might be consuming more power for their personal habits. Those with higher occupancy may pay less per person than I do, yet still end up paying more because they simply have to because each person has a minimum consumption.
Keep Flagler Beautiful says
One of the Orlando TV stations did a story on the fire and spoke with Mr. Bohan, who thanked our community for the support his family has received. The GoFundMe link is at the end of FlaglerLive’s story (above). Here is a link to the TV coverage: https://www.fox35orlando.com/video/1616127