NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas — A fire devastates a family's apartment in New Braunfels.
The flames robbed them of the home they built to welcome their new baby girl.
This happened just one day after bringing her home.
Joshua and Brianna Spears told KENS 5 the fire started with an appliance many of us have in our homes right now: an air fryer.
The couple says they've used the air fryer many times before with no problems.
The fire happened July 31, around 7 p.m., at the Torrey Place Apartment complex in the 500 block of Torrey Street. While the cause of the fire is still under investigation by the New Braunfels Fire Marshal's Office, the Spears Family is certain what sparked it.
Joshua and Brianna sat down with KENS 5 Thursday to share their story. Their newborn, Amaya Rose, is 19 days old.
"I was over the moon," Joshua said, expressing his emotions about bringing home his first child. "Here I have this little 8-pound, 2-oz little chunk on my arms that I get to protect for the rest of my life."
Little did he know that would include saving his baby girl from a fire just days after she was born.
The night of July 31, the couple threw some wings in the air fryer for dinner.
"The implicit instructions were use them in the air fryer," Joshua explained.
The model they used is a PowerXL air fryer, similar to the image below.
In the less than two minutes it took for Joshua to close the air fryer's basket and make a quick trip to the car, he said the air fryer caught flame.
Brianna, who was in the living room, was the first to see the smoke. She ran out the door with Amaya.
"I didn't hear anything. All you could see was black smoke," she explained.
Joshua tried to stop the flames using the fire extinguisher.
"I'm like, ok, I've never put out a fire in my life. Let's see if I can figure this out," said Joshua. "It went out, thought the fire was good, it reignited. I used the rest of the foam in the canister. Then it reignited."
By that time, he said the air fryer was engulfed. Flames reached the hood of the stove.
"The smoke was turning yellow, it was stinging my eyes. I was this close to saying, you know, I could probably just try and unplug it and throw it outside, but I heard [Brianna] screaming outside, 'You need to get out!'"
Firefighters arrived quickly, punching holes in the ceiling to ventilate the smoke.
"Thankfully [the fire] was isolated to the kitchen," said Brianna. "Had he not found that fire extinguisher, it would have gone through the whole house, maybe the whole building."
Although the flames were isolated to the kitchen, the family lost everything because of the smoke.
"The craziest thing is [Amaya]'s outside in her bassinet asleep, sleeping through the whole thing," Josh said with a smile, looking at Amaya who was fast asleep during our interview.
Their 7-year-old son, Beau, wasn't home at the time.
The only items salvaged were Amaya's diaper bag, a binder filled with important documents, a table and a couple of items with sentimental value. Thankfully, Brianna said they were able to retrieve frozen breastmilk left in the freezer along with pre-made meals left in a cooler. Among the most heartbreaking irreplaceable losses: pieces of furniture handed down by their grandparents.
"You can't put a price on that," said Joshua. "We wouldn't sell them for the world."
Apartment management helped them find a unit close by. Thanks to community donations from their church and others, along with volunteers from The American Red Cross, they say it's starting to feel more like home.
The Spears Family is set with donations for Amaya, but everything else -- including Beau's back-to-school clothes -- were lost in the fire. He starts school next week.
If you can help donate, click here. The biggest necessities are kitchen items and clothing for Beau, Brianna and Joseph.
Clothing size details
- Beau wears size 14-16, size 4.5 shoes and loves Fortnite, Minecraft and football
- Brianna wears size 2X, size 18-20 shorts/pants and size 8.5 shoes
- Joshua wears size 2X, size 40 shorts/pants and size 10.5 shoes