GoFundMe Started for Parker Family After Home Destroyed by Neighbor’s Fireworks

More than $10,000 has been raised for a family in Parker through a GoFundMe campaign after their home was destroyed in an early-morning fire on Tuesday, July 4, that was sparked by improperly discarded fireworks, according to local officials.

Initially, neighbor Tiffany Kemp hoped to raise $5,000 for the Rossi family – Adam and Hannah Rossi, a couple in their early thirties who live on Kimball Street in Parker’s Clark Farms neighborhood with their young daughter – and created the GoFundMe for them over the holiday.

“I just immediately knew that we had to get something going,” Kemp tells Westword. “Within four hours, it was already close to that.”

Blown away by the show of support, she doubled the goal to $10,000 – and then again to $20,000 – as more and more donations poured in.

“We’re all just heartbroken for them,” she says of the Rossis.

According to South Metro Fire Rescue (SMFR), the family’s home went up in flames just after midnight in a blaze that was caused by the “improper disposal of legal fireworks in a plastic bin outside the garage.”

Kemp says the Rossis’ next-door neighbor – an older woman and a “fairly new” addition to the neighborhood – had been setting off fireworks earlier in the evening and was the one who reportedly disposed of them improperly. Her house was also destroyed in the fire.

“She just went and put them in a trash can when she was done,” Kemp says.

Fire officials told the Denver Post that the fireworks had been placed in a recycling bin, saying that the neighbor “thought that because the firework had gone off and had been used that it was cool enough to throw in the trash and be safe.”

Kemp and her family were asleep when the fire broke out. “Our daughter’s window faces the street,” she says. “She heard a boom and looked over and saw that the house next door to [the Rossi home] was already going up. She ran into our room and told us, and then we ran over.”

One police officer was already at the scene by the time the Kemp family made it outside, and the situation was spiraling out of control.

“The wind had just picked up right when it happened, and it was already blowing embers and stuff over into the roofs of the houses nearby and just bouncing off them,” Kemp says. “For a second, I was very concerned that the whole block was going to go.” By the time things calmed down, five houses in the area had embers on their roofs or in their yards – including some on Kemp’s property.

Firefighters arrived at the scene within five minutes of Kemp getting there.

According to SMFR, the firefighters’ efforts prevented the fire from spreading to three other homes. No injuries were reported besides a minor burn for one firefighter.

“It was scary,” Kemp recounts. “It was really scary.”

Update: 2 homes have sustained major damage and firefighters prevented the fire from spreading to 3 neighboring homes. Crews continue to work on extinguishing the flames, thankfully no injuries have been reported. Investigators are on scene working to determine the cause. Thank… pic.twitter.com/MdjJQiAUFD

— South Metro Fire Rescue (@SouthMetroPIO) July 4, 2023

Kemp and her family have lived in Parker for the past thirteen years after moving from Texas. “We have a great neighborhood,” she says of Clark Farms. “We’re such a close community. … Our street is one of those streets [where] you just hope you can have a community like that; we’re all great friends.”

According to Kemp, the Rossi family moved in about five years ago, just before the birth of their daughter. “They’re amazing,” she says. “They’ve worked hard, they’re young, they’ve got a home and they’re building a life – and now they have to start over.”

Kemp doesn’t know much about the woman next door, as she’s only been living in the neighborhood for a few months. “Nobody really knows her,” Kemp says. “She left at about 3 a.m. that morning while everything was still going on, and we haven’t seen or heard from her since.”

The Parker Police Department and South Metro Fire Rescue did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, the Rossis have been staying at Adam Rossi’s parents’ house, according to Kemp.

“They’re still kind of in shock and trying to process everything,” she says.

Kemp has faith that the family will be all right, largely because of the GoFundMe, which can be found here. More than $10,000 had been raised as of 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

“They’re going to rebuild and come back stronger,” she says. “It’ll be great.”