A 22-year-old California woman died in a voracious house fire sparked by an artificial Christmas tree – after she saved five other sleeping family members from the home with no working smoke detectors.
Destiny Abdrazack, 22, was at her fiance’s parents’ home in North Highlands, Sacramento, when an electrical short from the tree ignited at around 2am on Christmas morning.
Abdrazack alerted the five other people asleep in the home – her fiance, her future in-laws Ernest Isom and his wife, and two other adults – by yelling ‘fire’ and they managed to escape.
But Abrazack and the family’s two dogs were not so lucky. The house was completely destroyed and the Isom family lost everything.
A photo of Destiny Abdrazack, 22, who died in the Christmas Day fire. A friend described her as a ‘beautiful soul’
A photo of the catastrophic fire that engulfed a home on David Drive in North Highlands, Sacramento that started when an artificial Christmas tree was ignited by an electrical short
Brandy Byers, one of the neighbors, told KCRA3 that the distraught family members were screaming: ‘Destiny! There’s someone inside! There’s someone inside!,’ she recalled. ‘There’s nothing any of us could do.’
Firefighters found Abdrazack in the living room of the home. She was taken to a nearby hospital in critical condition where she later died, The New York Post reported.
Speaking to KCRA3, Isom said he and his family had only ‘seconds to get out,’ before his home was ravaged by flames.
‘She was the one who yelled fire, and that’s the sad part,’ Isom said about his future daughter-in-law. ‘She saved our lives.
‘Unfortunately, they wanted to keep the lights on until the last minute and we all happen to fall asleep and we had an instant, seconds to get out.
Destiny Abdrazack, 22, died in the house fire sparked by an artificial tree on Christmas day in the early hours of Sunday morning
‘It was fast, and that’s how quick it went. I’m talking minutes.’
Neighbors were jolted from their sleep by a loud noise and when they looked out the window they saw the house was consumed by flames.
Neighbor Richard Byers used a fire extinguisher to try and extinguish it, but he said the fire ‘was moving too fast.’
On Monday, Gabriella Zaccaria, a friend of the deceased, started a GoFundMe to help raise money for the funeral costs.
‘Destiny is one of the most beautiful souls that crossed our paths.
‘She is no longer earth side but she will always be with us,’ Zaccaria said. ‘Any donation at this time helps.’
As of Tuesday morning, nearly $3,100 had been raised towards their goal of $100,000.
It is not clear why the smoke detectors in the home were not working, but the Sacramento Metro Fire Department urges homeowners to check the batteries.
Next month, they are launching a smoke detector campaign to help families with installation of fire alarms in their homes.
The Sacramento Metro Fire Department worked to extinguish the house fire
The family’s two dogs were also killed in the Christmas Day blaze. The house was completely destroyed and the Isom family lost everything
The home on Donna Drive in North Highlands, a suburb of Sacramento, that was ravaged by the fire. Speaking to KCRA3, Ernest Isom said he and his family had only ‘seconds to get out.’ Isom said his future daughter-in-law ‘saved their lives’
