ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Right now, St. Petersburg Fire Rescue is working to figure out what started a deadly fire early Sunday morning.
It happened in the Fossil Park neighborhood, where neighbors are rallying around a family who lost everything.
Carrie and Anthony Ortega, and Carrie's father, Eldon Rogers, were all home when the fire broke out.
Eldon died in the fire as well as the family's dog, Presley. St. Pete Fire Rescue said two cats are also unaccounted for. Carrie was hospitalized and neighbors say she's still at the hospital recovering today.
"It was a shock to everybody," Erika McGrath, president of the Fossil Park Neighborhood Association, said. "To see it, to walk by it every day is hard for all of us. We just picture ourselves being in that type of situation, which is why the empathy is so large."
McGrath says the Fossil Park community is comprised of roughly 700 homes, and the Ortega family has lived there for many years.
"To just having that type of tragedy in our neighborhood is not something that we see often," McGrath said. "Personally, I have not seen something so drastic like that, so my heart goes out to them."
St. Petersburg Fire Rescue says the fire started in Eldon Rogers' bedroom, but how it started is still unclear.
Meanwhile, neighbors are rallying support. The Fossil Park Neighborhood Association is organizing donations for the family.
"We did donate as much as we could and are going to be putting together a donation list for clothing and basic essentials," McGrath said. "It really could have happened to anybody and that's why we want to make sure that we take care of our own."
The neighborhood association has also created a GoFundMe page for the family. If you'd like to help them through this time, click here.
So far, the donation requests for the family include clothing (women's XL shirts, women's size 20 pants, men's XL shirts, men's 2XL pants), and toiletries. People can drop off donations at Willis S Johns Recreation Center, 6635 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr St N, St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg Fire Rescue is reminding everyone to check the batteries in their smoke detectors, adding that everyone should have a smoke detector in every bedroom and main living space of their home.