TALLAHASSEE FLA. (WTXL) — A late-night house fire destroyed the Dillard family’s home, but overwhelming community support is helping them begin the long road to recovery.
- The fire happened late Monday night on November 10, 2025.
- The Dillard family was only able to run out of the house with the clothes on their back.
- Watch the video to see why Shakeira Dillard is still in high spirits despite the tragedy.
Family rebuilds with community support after devastating house fire that left their home in ashes
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
A family is trying to piece their lives back together after a fire destroyed their home and everything inside it.
I’m Lyric Sloan in Midway.
I spoke to the family who says they made it out with nothing but the clothes on their backs. But while the flames took so much, the community has given back even more.
Almost a week later Shakeria Dillard still looks back at her home of six years in awe, as it remains in ashes.
“ This was my son’s toy bin, so you see the football and his baseball,” Dillard said.
The family’s home burned down Monday night, due to a hot water heater causing the family to leave everything behind but one thing.
"When I realized that we lost everything but our lives, I was just so grateful and thankful for that, because I knew for a fact that the materialistic stuff that we lost can be replaced but our lives can't," Dillard said.
All her mom could do is rejoice.
“ To go through this process she has never been through lord have mercy she lost everything. God is good, nobody got hurt or killed in the accident,“ Dillard's mom said.
To help restore everything the family lost, fundraisers are underway and the community has been supplying the family with:
“Clothes, money, prayers, all of that,” Dillard said.
Some of those donations came from a partnership between Denisia “Blue June” Andrews and Kalinda Pyles, founder of the Jewel Empowerment Foundation.
They began working together to assist the Dillard family and was able to provide $2,000 dollars hoping that the family will be able to get back to where they were pre-fire.
"Especially with it being the holidays and Ms. Dillards having five young children just to make sure that they have a good Christmas and to put her back in a home, and get her life back on track," Pyles said.
You’ve seen the aftermath, but this is what the fire looked like at the scene.
Shakeria Dillard sent us this video of what was happening at 8:37 p.m. that night.
"The one last thing I do want the community to know is to make sure your fire extinguishers are working, making sure that your kids are ready just in case an emergency happens they know know what to do.
Dillard said that when the fire broke out, her daughter immediately ran over to the neighbors’ side of the duplex to make sure they were safe, and now that same spirit of community showed that night is now being returned to them through an outpouring of support.
In Midway Lyric Sloan ABC 27.
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