A Cooke County family is trying to recover after a fire destroyed their home and killed their seven-year-old daughter. The fire broke out at Roger Zuniga’s home near 570 JL Drive in Valley View on Jan. 18. Zuniga told NBC 5 that since the incident, his life has felt like a horror movie he couldn’t escape – with most of his family in and out of the hospital, their home reduced to a burnt-out shell and a memorial in the place of his daughter Delena. “It was a normal night, like any other night,” Zuniga said through tears. Get DFW local news, weather forecasts and entertainment stories to your inbox. Sign up for NBC DFW newsletters . Zuniga said at bedtime on Wednesday night, Delena asked to take the family’s space heater into her room. “She said I’m going to bring the heater with me, Daddy, okay?” Zuniga said. “That’s fine, bring it, I bought it for you.” Hours later, Zuniga said his five-year-old son burst into his room and woke him up. Local The latest news from around North Texas. “He told me Daddy, Mommy, Delena’s room is on fire,” Zuniga said. “I go and open the door and I try to get her, and when I open the door, I see the room completely red, a big fire.” In shock, Zuniga rushed outside to try and turn on the hose to spray at the flames but found the water frozen from the cold. “And after that, I started screaming and yelling for the neighbor, please help me, my house is on fire and my seven-year-old daughter is inside and I need help,” Zuniga said. A neighbor called 911, and Zuniga’s wife and five other children were able to escape from the home. But by the time firefighters arrived, Delena’s room had already been consumed by the inferno. “So there was nothing we could do to save her,” Zuniga said. Zuniga and two of his sons had to be hospitalized with burns, and his wife was taken to the ICU at Parkland Hospital for smoke inhalation. The family was uninsured, and now finds themselves without a home and facing a costly recovery. The Cooke County community has rallied around them, raising more than $40,000 for the family on GoFundMe as of Sunday night. Zuniga told NBC 5 the support would help them recover from the loss they could never fully replace. “We lost everything pretty much,” Zuniga said. “Whatever they want to help us, whatever they can help us, we really appreciate it.”
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