- April 18, 2024
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Updated 10:13 p.m. May 15
A bedroom fire has left a single mom in Palm Coast — and her six adopted children — without a home.
It all started when Amanda Kling’s 12-year-old son, Gordon, plugged in a faulty alarm clock on the morning of Thursday, May 14, and it began to spark. Soon, the mattress caught fire, and he went to tell Kling.
“I opened the door, and sure enough, it was on fire,” Kling recalled.
She closed the door — an action that Palm Coast Fire Capt. James Neuenfeldt later said saved the rest of the home from worse damage. Kling gathered her children and rushed out into the cul-de-sac where she lives, off Bird of Paradise Drive.
Soon, the Palm Coast Fire Department and Flagler County Fire Rescue were on the scene. Finding the mattress in flames, firefighters doused it with about 200 gallons of water.
“They did a remarkable job,” Neuenfeldt said. “Damage was kept to a minimum because everybody stepped up. Gratefully, nobody was injured.”
Firefighters also tore out part of the sheetrock to make sure the spark hadn’t ignited anything else inside the wall. Florida Power and Light later came and turned off the power to the entire house; it won’t be turned back on until it’s been checked thoroughly.
Kling’s mother, Suzy Kling arrived, as did Neil Crawford, adoptive dad of the two oldest children, 14-year-old Shawn and Gordon. Some friends from church, arrived next, and they all watched the firefighters finish their work.
Neuenfeldt noticed that Kling wasn't wearing shoes, only socks, which were soaking wet from walking through the puddles from the fire hose near her driveway. He went back into the house to find her some shoes.
Another firefighter, Driver Engineer Travis Greco, gave the youngest child, 1-year-old Trinity, a plastic red firefighter hat.
All of Kling’s children have special needs of one degree or another, she said. The adoption process for Trinity and another 1-year-old, Dalton, was finalized just two weeks earlier, on April 29. Kling also has two 3-year-olds, Remington and Evelyn.
Gordon’s bedroom was a total loss: the TV was melted, along with a laptop and video games. Other furniture in the house might be salvageable, but some might never be rid of the smell of smoke.
Kling said the owner of the rented home is planning to sell it, so either way Kling won’t be able to return there. She stayed with her mother on the night of May 14, and friends kept some of her children and pets overnight.
What’s next? She doesn’t know. She is in touch with the Red Cross and her church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She is also hoping for some help from a GoFundMe account: https://www.gofundme.com/f/helping-the-kling-family.
In the meantime, Kling was planning to return to the damaged home and retrieve Trinity’s crib. Trinity didn’t take a nap on May 14 and didn’t fall asleep until about 11 p.m., in Kling’s arms, because she wasn’t used to her surroundings.
Still, Kling felt grateful that no one was hurt.
“I want to thank the firefighters and people who helped us,” she said.
