Donna family loses everything in house fire

DONNA, Texas (ValleyCentral) — As many people dealt with heavy rain on Wednesday one Donna family is now dealing with the loss of their home.

The fire happened at the 700 block of Noemi Street in Donna.

Mariely Sandoval and her family were out having dinner when the fire erupted. They got home to see firefighters battling the blaze.

"By the time we got here, the house was completely in flames and nothing could be rescued from the room, and they didn’t even let us go inside to get anything," Sandoval said. "My father, in fact, took off the gas tank so it wouldn’t explode, and since he did that they almost arrested him because he was risking himself getting close to the flames.”

Mud can be seen all throughout the home as the fire caused large holes in the walls and ceiling.

Mariely has a 15, 14, 12 and two-year-old. She says the older siblings lost everything as their room was the one most affected.

"Little by little they were having things and just this past weekend I had gone to buy them their new shoes and some new pants and nothing was left," Sandoval said. "Computers, IDs, and everything else they had was burned.”

The family says the Donna Fire Department told them that a short circuit from their air conditioner caused the fire.

The family has a GoFundMe set up and is accepting donations from the community.

They will also be having a plate sale in Edinburg on Saturday at 6811 Owassa Rd to raise money to fix their home. Sandoval can be contacted at (956) 354-8837.