'Guardian Angel' Rushed To Help As Fire Consumed Home In Wheaton

WHEATON, IL — Maria Locascio was shopping with her sister, Cristina, in early November when she got a Ring doorbell alert showing a stranger frantically banging on the door of her home, shouting that the house was on fire. Inside the home, Maria's fiancé, Jeffrey Urbanek, and their two sons were playing, unaware of the fire, which had not triggered their smoke alarm. Locascio told Patch the woman she saw on the doorbell video, Sarah Callison, was a stranger who ended up being her family's "guardian angel" that day.

Just over four years earlier, Locascio and Urbanek had moved into the Roosevelt Road house, which Locascio calls their "dream home." The child of immigrants, Locascio had grown up in a modest home in Villa Park. Their family had just finished renovating the Villa Park home when Urbanek told Locascio that a home he was working on was for sale.

Reluctant to consider moving after renovating their Villa Park home, Locascio said Urbanek tricked her by saying he needed to stop at the home to repair something. Locascio said that when she walked in, there was no doubt in her mind she had found their next home.

“The minute I went inside, I absolutely loved it," she said, explaining that they bought the home before it even hit the real estate market.

“It was my forever home," Locascio said.

That idyllic story may have come to a more tragic end if it weren't for Callison's quick actions

Callison told Patch she and her daughter Morgan, 16, had been driving down Roosevelt Road when they saw smoke "rolling up the side of the house." She said they pulled over and Morgan called 911 as Sarah dashed toward the home.

Locascio said that when her fiancé heard loud banging on the door, he initially thought Maria and Cristina needed help with groceries. When he finally opened the door, Sarah Callison practically burst into their living room.

“Had she not alerted my fiancé about the fire, I don't think they would have made it," Locascio said, explaining that the flames were above her home's smoke detectors, but the smoke had been filling the home with carbon monoxide.

When Urbanek became aware of the fire, he dashed outside to try to douse it. Realizing the flames were already much more out of control than he thought, he ran back into the home to save his and Locascio's sons, Joey, who turned 6 on Dec. 3, and Alex, 3.

Callison grabbed Alex from Urbanek and got the 3-year-old to safety, while Urbanek got 6-year-old Joey out of the house. Locascio told Patch Callison also helped rescue the family's dog, Nabisco.

Callison's daughter, Morgan, kept both Alex and Joey safe in her mother's car until Locascio and her sister returned.

For Locascio, the time between seeing Callison's panic on her Ring camera and getting to her house seems surreal. She said she and Cristina left their groceries and rushed to the car.

"I knew it wasn't anything small," Locascio said, based on the urgency in Callison's voice on the surveillance video.

As Locascio and Cristina sped down Roosevelt, they saw several fire trucks and emergency vehicles heading in the same direction.

“When I saw the ambulance, I lost it," Locascio told Patch.

Once she got near the home, she found much of Roosevelt Road had been closed to accommodate first responders.

Locascio said she began to run on foot and a firefighter tried to stop her, warning that "the house might explode."

“You can tackle me to the floor. If the house explodes, then it explodes with me also." She told Patch.

Meanwhile, an off-duty firefighter who was in the area helped rescue the family's other dog, Harvey, who had been hiding in Locascio's daughter's room. Things looked grim for the family's bearded dragon, Mango, though.

“When I ran toward the house, the flames were shooting out of the room where the bearded dragon was, so I had to call my daughter and say I didn’t think he made it.”

Locascio's daughters, Brianna Rios, 14, and Angelina Rios, now 11, were not home at the time of the blaze, for which Locascio said she is thankful, as most of the damage was concentrated on their rooms.

Despite the intense flames in her daughter's room, a firefighter was able to retrieve Mango, tank and all.

Locascio told Patch the tank had to be scrapped due to smoke damage, but that Mango is doing just fine in the aftermath of the fire.

In the month after they lost their home in the fire, the family has been dealing with a number of changes, milestone and triggers.

"Everything Just Triggers"

Locascio, her husband and their sons stayed in a hotel the night of the fire, but she explained that her sons are on the autism spectrum, and that processing the trauma of the fire has been difficult for them.

She said Joey struggled to sleep that first night, waking up in a panic each time he drifted off, saying, "Mommy, the fire is going to get us."

Fire trucks and sirens elicit the same response.

"Everything just triggers," Locascio said, explaining that she celebrated her birthday shortly after the fire, but found herself triggered by the candles used for her cake.

“They lit the candle and in the video you can see the panic when they light the candle," she said. "I had a full internal panic attack, and I was trying not to show my kids.”

Locascio said the fire gutted their home and destroyed nearly everything in it. The house will have to be rebuilt. In the meantime, the family has been living in Carol Stream, in a home that Locascio said is much smaller, but reminds her of her former home in Villa Park.

Since the fire, the family has celebrated Thanksgiving and two of the family's children have celebrated their birthdays. Brianna, the eldest, is set to turn 15 just two days before Christmas. Next up, Locascio and Urbanek have to pull together their wedding by February, even though they "lost everything 'wedding' besides the dress."

Fortunately, community members have banded together to support Locascio, Urbanek and their family. Locascio told Patch three or four women in and around Wheaton and Warrenville have been collecting clothing and other necessary items for the family and organizing pickups and dropoffs.

She's thankful, though, that "for Christmas, we are all under one roof."

“Things can be replaced," she said, "As long as we’re together, that’s the only thing I care about.”

How To Help

A GoFundMe has been started to help the Locascio-Urbanek family rebuild their lives as the winter holidays approach. As of Dec. 8, they had raised just over $6,000 toward their $10,000 goal.

Click the link to donate to the GoFundMe.