{"id":1577,"date":"2026-02-10T09:16:21","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T09:16:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=1577"},"modified":"2026-02-10T09:16:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T09:16:21","slug":"squirrel-chews-through-electrical-wires-sparking-inferno-that-destroyed-florida-familys-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/?p=1577","title":{"rendered":"Squirrel chews through electrical wires, sparking inferno that destroyed Florida family\u2019s home"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F02%2Fstacey-davis-banta-family-experienced-120838999.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>A pesky squirrel turned a Florida family\u2019s life upside down after the critter chewed through electrical wiring, sparking a fire that left their home a charred shell.<\/p>\n<p>Donnie Banta and Stacey Davis were sleeping with their children and pets inside their Panama City home on Jan. 31 when a strange noise and burning smell from the attic jolted them awake, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mypanhandle.com\/news\/local-news\/bay-county\/panama-city-family-loses-home-after-squirrel-chews-through-electrical-wiring\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WMBB<\/a> reported.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe were all asleep, and I heard the breaker flip in the back,\u201d Banta said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Donnie Banta and Stacey Davis were asleep with their children and pets in their Panama City home on Jan. 31 when a fire broke out. <span class=\"credit\">Greg &amp; Ginny Garner\/GoFundMe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cSo I got up to see what the noise was, and I heard rustling in the attic, and I could smell an electrical odor.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When the mother of two realized there was a fire, she scurried to get everyone out of the house safely.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cIt was very frantic. We were scrambling, trying to wake everybody up and get them all out,\u201d Davis recalled.<\/p>\n<p>Panama City firefighters rushed to the scene and were able to contain the inferno, but the home was completely destroyed.<\/p>\n<p>Banta told the outlet that officials determined a squirrel was the culprit behind the fire, which reduced the home \u2014 and all of the family\u2019s prized possessions and valuables \u2014 to rubble.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Panama City firefighters rushed to the scene and were able to contain the inferno, but the home was completely destroyed. <span class=\"credit\">Greg &amp; Ginny Garner\/GoFundMe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThey said a squirrel got into the attic and chewed on some wires and shorted it out, and that\u2019s what started the fire,\u201d Banta said.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gofundme.com\/f\/help-staceys-family-rebuild-after-house-fire\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">GoFundMe<\/a> launched to help the family rebuild their lives revealed that the blaze caused the roof to collapse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey are now faced with the overwhelming challenge of starting over from scratch,\u201d the fundraiser page said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>The family has launched a GoFundMe to help rebuild their home. <span class=\"credit\">Greg &amp; Ginny Garner\/GoFundMe<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cThe loss of their home and belongings has left them in urgent need of support as they navigate this difficult time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The campaign funds will be used to help the family secure housing, clothing and basic necessities as they begin the difficult process of rebuilding their lives.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re mainly needing donations to go toward the GoFundMe account,\u201d Davis told WMBB. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMaybe some furniture or kitchen items as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/02\/10\/us-news\/squirrel-chews-through-electrical-wires-sparking-inferno-that-destroyed-florida-familys-home\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A pesky squirrel turned a Florida family\u2019s life upside down after the critter chewed through electrical wiring, sparking a fire that left their home a charred&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1578,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/foreignnewstoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}