Two Zephyrhills corrections officers who lost everything in a fire are getting help from their neighbors in the community.

  • Homes of Eric Ross, Scott Weatherington destroyed by fire
  • Fire started at Ross's home first, then spread to Weatherington's
  • Fundraiser for families on May 7

Eric Ross has worked at the Zephyrhills Correctional Institute in the mental health division for the last 22 years. His neighbor, Scott Weatherington has been a corrections officer at the same facility for the last 14 years.

That’s not the only thing they have in common. Both men have children with special needs, and both of their homes burned down earlier this month.

Until that fire, the men and their families lived at a property just a few feet away from the prison. Several mobile homes are on the property, which Ross says the prison owns.

What remains there of Ross's and Weatherington's homes, however, are burned shells.

“It was pretty devastating to know it’s all gone," said Ross. "Everything’s gone."

The fire, which was believed to be electrical, started at Ross's and later spread to Weatherington's.

Weatherington said it took a while to process that his home was destroyed.

“It didn’t really hit us hard enough until we pulled up over here and saw all of the fire trucks,” Weatherington said.

The community around Ross and Weatherington, according to the men, have been supportive from the day of the fires. In fact, neighbors helped put the fires out.

“As people were leaving to go home after working 12 hours, all day in the sun, they stopped alongside the road, came in here and tried to help stop the fire,” Weatherington said.

That same community is following up their efforts with the fire with fundraising efforts. A car show fundraiser on May 7 at 4740 Allen Road, in Zephyrhills is set to help the men and their families get back on their feet.

For Ross, who has spent a career helping inmates at the prison, it was difficult to accept that this time he was the one who needed help.

“It was hard to do, but we realize we had to have help to get back on our feet,” Ross said.

For now, both families are living with friends and other family members. They both hope to be back on the job soon, and hope to find new places to live, even if those places are not feet away from work, as the previous homes were.

Both families have GoFundMe pages set up to receive charitable donations.

To donate to the Ross Family's GoFundMe, visit https://www.gofundme.com/my-familys-housepossession-burned. To donate to the Weatherington Family's GoFundMe, visit https://www.gofundme.com/tsxzt-fire-leaves-family-homeless.

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