Allen firefighters rally to help colleague who lost home to fire

CELINA, Texas - A firefighter is receiving support from his colleagues in Allen after his own home was destroyed by fire.

Jeremy West is grateful no one was injured, but his house is a total loss. He says the timing of it all has put a lot of things into perspective.

“As a fireman, you just get toned out. You put the fire out and you go home, right?” West said. “Now, I see the other side of it.”

West is experiencing what he calls a full circle moment of the worst kind.

“He has four kids and three of them live here with them,” said Allen Fire Capt. Matt Madding. “And we just thank God they were at grandma’s house last night.”

Right after West and his station finished fighting a house fire Wednesday night, his wife called around 4 a.m. Wednesday.

“I could actually hear his wife screaming on the phone,” Madding said. “And he dropped everything he was doing, and he was gone.”

West came home to Preston Hills Circle in Celina and found Celina, Prosper and Frisco firefighters putting out a fire at his own home.

“Christmas toys that the kids just got are gone. Furniture is gone. A lot of clothing,” Madding said. “So they need basically everything.”

West’s firefighter brethren have already set up a fund for him through the Allen Firefighters Association.

But West isn’t personally asking for anything. He only took time Thursday to commend the firefighters who worked the call.

“They did an outstanding job,” he said. “I was very pleased.”

It’s his fire family who’s asking for help for West’s family at home.

The fund for the West family is set up through the Allen Firefighters Association. Proceeds will go 100% to the family.

Celina Fire has not yet said the cause of the fire or whether it was linked to Wednesday night’s storms.