A Detroit Fire Department rookie is staying with relatives after a blaze at his east-side home Tuesday night.
"I never thought I would be on the other side," Donovan "Donnie" Dickerson tells Shawn Ley of WDIV (video below). "I knew it was gone, because I have been on a scene like this before. So I know what to expect -- water damage, smoke. All that."
The uninsured home has been in Donovan Dickerson's family for more than 60 years, he says. (WDIV photo)
Indeed, Ley reports from the scene on Conord Street: "Everything inside that home is gone."
The uninsured home has been in Dickerson's family for more than 60 years, he tells the newsman. The firefighter is staying with relatives on the same block.
Detroit firefighter Scott Ziegler and other friends from his fire academy class set up a GoFundMe drive Wednesday afternoon that has raised $6,000 from 130 people in a day, helped by Ley's broadcast report and his earlier social media posts. "I saw this on the news and it broke my heart," posts Shannon WIlliams, who gave $50. "Thank you for all your work and service to others."
"This young man will have to start over with nothing," the online campaign says. "Now is a perfect opportunity to help out someone who goes to work every day to stop this very thing from happening to complete strangers."
A contributor of $25, Marsha Sutfin, posts: "My dad was a battalion chief, retired in 1978. This is in memory of him. God bless you and prayers for you getting back in your feet."
In a second fundraiser, firefighters are selling $15 T-shirts until Aug. 12. to benefit Dickerson. More than 300 are sold as of Thursday afternoon.
-- Alan Stamm
