There’s nothing more powerful than a mother’s love. Washington mother of three Angel Fiorini is living proof.
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The 33-year-old woke up in the middle of the night on October 28, 2016. She was struggling to breathe, and immediately realized something was ablaze. When she opened her bedroom door, Angel was shocked to see her home engulfed in a rapidly growing fire.
Worse than coming face-to-face with the fiery flame was the fact that Angel’s three children—Gianna, Vinnie and Rosalie—were all asleep in their rooms.
“It was really hot already, even though it was on the opposite side of the house,” she says. “I just knew I had to get out.”
With her mama-bear instincts kicking in full blast, Angel gathered 4-year-old Vinnie and 2-year-old Rosalie in each of her arms, and rushed them outside to safety. 8-year-old Gianna was still asleep inside.
“In that moment, the smoke being so thick and so black, and the fire moving as fast as it was, I had no idea how I would get back in there,” Angel recalls. “There was no way that I was going to stand outside my house watching it burn with her inside. There was nobody to call for help, and I knew that I was the only one who knew where she was in the house, and waiting wasn’t an option.”
Angel’s boyfriend of 15 years, and the father of her children, Aaron, was away at the time of the fire.
Angel ran back into the rapidly burning house to rescue her daughter. Navigating the thick smoke and flames of her living room on her stomach, Angel found her way to Gianna.
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“I couldn’t go in with eyes open between the heat and the smoke, so it was almost an army crawl across the ground,” she recalls. “I crawled towards the bedroom door and had to feel my way into her doorway.”
With all of her might, Angel dragged her daughter from her bedroom to the front door—the fire torching their limbs the entire way. As she tried to escape through the front door, Angel says her skin “melted off onto the doorknob” and she passed out just feet from the entrance.
A volunteer firefighter happened to be driving by the scene and came to Angel and Giana’s rescue.
Angel credits God for the strength she found to face the fire head-on and go back in to save her daughter.
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“Gianna and I had skin charred, melting, hanging off of our arms and our hands,” she remembers.
The mother-daughter duo survived, but the road ahead would be anything but easy.
Both Angel and Gianna suffered third-degree burns to much of their bodies, but thanks to her mom’s insane bravery, Gianna’s injuries were not nearly as severe as Angel’s, who had more than half of her body terribly burned.
After being admitted to the University of Washington School of Medicine’s Harborview Medical Center, Angel spent five weeks in and out of the burn unit, where doctors treated her wounds and numerous other infections she contracted while in the hospital.
During that time, her community rallied together and came alongside the family with an overwhelming amount of support, love and donations. Local businesses even gifted them with a couch and a car, while thousands of dollars were raised to financially support them through medical bills and getting back on their feet as best as possible. One generous family even gave them a mobile home to live in!
The generosity was unbelievable, but Angel says even in her circumstance, she struggled to accept the help of others.
“I think it’s a natural thing for a lot of people to have a hard time receiving things. Even though we lost everything, I just couldn’t really put together why so many people had come together and donated so much stuff,” she says. “People lose their house in fires pretty often, and it was hard for me to comprehend why we were being so blessed.”
After months of healing, and being by his girlfriend’s side every step of the way, Aaron decided to propose to Angel on January 20th after 15 years of being content with not getting married.
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The two tied the knot on July 28th.
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As for Angel, today she sees her second chance as a calling and purpose. The cause of the fire that nearly took her life and her daughter’s is still “undetermined.” But Angel admits that she didn’t have working smoke detectors in her home at the time of the blaze.
Now she’s made it her mission to educate others and raise awareness about just how important those little devices actually are.
“I have a really strong desire to make a difference from all of this. My life wasn’t just spared for no reason,” Angel says. “It’s something that gives me strength, knowing what I’ve overcome and what I’ve been able to fight through.”
