Fire destroys Cottondale home

By KATE McCARDELL
Floridan Staff Writer
Published: October 8, 2008

With everything she’s worked for turned to charcoal by a fire Tuesday night, a smile still graced Rolinda Syfrett’s face Wednesday.
“I don’t know why or how, but our pictures made it,” said Syfrett. “The rest of it, well, we can start over.”
Syfrett lost her trailer, located behind the Tom Thumb on Hwy. 231 in Cottondale, to what may have been an electrical fire.
She said the incident happened as she lay in bed.
“She heard this loud pop right next to the bed and it turned out to be an electrical switch caught fire,” said Ron Syfrett, her eldest son.
While one of her dogs was still missing after the fire, Syfrett and her two youngest children managed to escape unharmed. No one else was in the home at the time.
The trailer, she said, was engulfed in flames within ten minutes.
On Wednesday, Syfrett and her family rummaged through the charcoal, glass and ash to see what they could salvage.
Almost everything is lost, she said, from clothing to furniture and even the house-warming gifts she’d bought for her oldest daughter, who just got a house of her own. But, some of her most valuable treasures remain intact - family photos.
“Some have a little bit of damage, but they can be fixed.  This can all be fixed. I’m looking at it as a fresh start. No one was hurt and that’s what’s important,” said Syfrett.
Her older children said she remains the family’s rock, even comforting them after the fire, when she was the one who needed comfort most.
Syfrett, according to her children, had worked three jobs to earn the money to buy herself the trailer.
“It’s going to be okay. I’m going to stay positive,” said the petite mother of four.
Syfrett was hesitant to say she needed any help, but her son Ron pushed her to do so.
“She’s always doing for others and never asks for anything in return. There’s a shed over there full of stuff, that wasn’t touched by the fire. But nothing inside of that shed is hers,” said Ron Syfrett.
His mother and his younger siblings have a place to stay until they get back on their feet, but they could use whatever help the community has to offer, he said.
Those who wish to help Rolinda Syfrett and her family may call her at (850) 299-6155.