Nathaniel Wilkins is haunted by the close call his family had in the fire and explosions that destroyed their Eden Prairie house.
“Thirty seconds after Sade (and Skylynn) got out, the house blows,” said Wilkins, who was working an overnight shift as a manager at a UNFI warehouse in Hopkins at the time of the fire.
The gravity of the situation becomes all too clear as he reflects on the potential tragedy that might have unfolded had his fiancee Sade Strong hesitated or ventured back inside.
“She would not have survived,” he concludes.
Aerial footage taken by Fox 9 the morning after the incident offers a stark and harrowing glimpse into the fire’s aftermath, showing the ruins of their house and the neighboring residence.
“It’s crazy because the neighbors across the street thought we were dead,” Wilkins said. “They didn’t know I wasn’t home, but they thought we were dead. That’s how bad it was.”
‘Everything is gone’
On Wednesday, Strong and Wilkins shared the harrowing account of the family’s narrow escape in the early morning hours of June 2 from their home at 10310 Lee Drive, where the fire erupted and quickly engulfed a neighboring house at 10294 Lee Drive, causing extensive damage to both properties and impacting nearby structures.
Strong was inside the house located east of Franlo Road with her children, 5-year-old Saniya Wilkins and 1-month-old Skylynn Wilkins, and her mother, Jodi Deikel. All of them managed to escape before the house exploded.
However, Deikel suffered second-degree and third-degree burns from her waist down.
According to Strong, Deikel has been receiving treatment at Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis since the fire. She underwent surgery on Tuesday and is currently in significant pain. The family hopes to transfer her to a rehabilitation facility in the coming weeks for physical therapy.
Despite escaping with only the clothes they wore to bed, Strong feels blessed that the entire family survived.
The city reported on Monday that the Eden Prairie Fire Department determined that prescribed medical-grade oxygen tanks exploded during an active fire at 10310 Lee Drive. The investigation into the fire’s origin and cause of the explosions is ongoing.
“Everything is gone,” Strong said. “It makes you look at life very differently. You could be doing fine and living a normal life one day, and then everything can change literally overnight.”
Strong, her daughters and Wilkins are temporarily staying with a family member until they secure alternative housing.
“Right now, we are focused on getting back on our feet and figuring out our plans once my mom is discharged from the hospital,” she said.
‘Something woke me up’
When the fire began, Saniya and Deikel were asleep in a main-floor bedroom of the two-story house, while Strong and Skylynn were sleeping in a bedroom downstairs.
“Something woke me up,” Strong said. “I don’t know what, but I got up and I looked out my window and my grass was on fire. I didn’t (initially) translate that to my house was on fire.”
She grabbed Skylynn, and moments later, she heard her mother’s scream, followed by a loud boom. Rushing toward the stairs, she called out Deikel’s name.
“I went around to the stairs area and saw the smoke and the flames, and the ceiling had fallen down over the stairs,” she said. “I ran upstairs through the living room to the back door and into the backyard. Once I reached the backyard, I was screaming for my daughter Saniya and my mom.”
They were already outside. Both managed to escape through a window along with their dog, Chloe.
“Once we were a few steps away from the house, it just went boom,” she said. “It exploded. I was trying to hand off my baby to go grab Archie, our other dog, because I didn’t know if he had made it out or not, or followed me out. But, nobody would grab her.”
Strong said her mother then fell to the ground. A neighbor used a flashlight to examine her and discovered she had been burned.
“I was just worried that she needed an ambulance right away,” Strong said. “My mom has other health issues.”
Deikel had told her daughter that she woke up to Archie, the other family dog, barking “really loud” at the door leading to the house’s garage on the main floor.
According to Strong, the garage door was left open that night due to a malfunction that prevented it from closing correctly. They had intended to have it repaired earlier that day, but the repairman had to reschedule.
“I guess my mom was worried about someone robbing us,” Strong said. “So, Archie was barking at the door, and she opened it. She said the door exploded on her, and that’s how the door ended up on her back. That’s how she got injured and knocked out. By the time she woke up, she got Saniya out of the house.”
Wilkins praises Deikel and Strong for getting the children out of the house.
“My mother-in-law is a hero,” he said. “My fiancée is a hero. She saved my baby girl, just one month old. And my mother-in-law, she suffered third-degree burns and second-degree burns on her back and leg. But she saved my daughter. My daughter has a few scratches from going through a window, but she’s alive, and that’s what matters. My mother-in-law is a hero. Her first reaction was, ‘My grandbaby, she’s 5, she’s in my bed. I have to save her; even if I don’t make it out, at least she does.’”
Strong said they would have most likely been dead if it weren’t for Archie barking. “He basically saved us,” she said.
Archie, the small white mixed-breed dog they rescued, was found safe on Wednesday night. They received a call about a dog matching his description near Bluff Road and Franlo Park.
The dog had been missing since the fire, but the family held onto hope that he had managed to escape. While Archie was technically her mother’s dog, Strong said he had formed a strong bond with Saniya and had become her closest companion.
(Strong found the family’s two cats not long after the fire. One was unharmed, but the other was severely burned and had to be euthanized.)
“He’s a shooter,” Wilkins said hours before Archie was found. “When I say that, he likes to shoot out the door. The balcony door was open, and he enjoys being outside, so there’s a good chance that Archie is alive and may have run out through the balcony door after her.”
GoFundMe page
Strong has set up a GoFundMe page to help them get back on their feet and help her mother when she gets out of the hospital.
As of Thursday night, $12,080 has been raised toward the $50,000 goal.
“So (Deikel) doesn’t have to worry about anything besides healing and recovering,” Strong said. “For my daughters, getting back clothes and other necessities.”
People have donated clothes and other items to them, such as a stroller. The day before the fire, they had stored their stroller and car seat in the garage to make room for a grocery trip.
Strong is relieved that the couple living in the other destroyed house and their pets survived the fire.
“They are like family to us as well,” she said. “My daughter loves them and adores them.”
Despite sustaining minor scratches in the fire, Strong and Saniya are physically OK.
“Mentally, it’s different,” she said.
They are all still in the process of healing emotionally. It will take time, especially for Saniya, who is experiencing ups and downs. They are doing their best to keep her happy. Last weekend, a cousin took her to Schooner Days.
Just hours after the fire, Saniya was supposed to participate in a kindergarten graduation walk with her classmates at Eden Lake Elementary School.
“We missed that, and it’s heartbreaking,” Strong said. “But at least they were able to take a picture of her in a cap and gown.”
Details on the fire
Strong is unsure what started the fire in her house. As she pointed out, it’s still under investigation.
“The oxygen tanks (in the garage) weren’t the cause, but that’s what was exploding,” she said.
Those tanks were for her mother.
“My mom has really bad COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), and they were supposed to pick up those oxygen tanks,” she said. “That’s why they were in the garage to be picked up.”
“The oxygen tanks were empty,” Wilkins added. “However, they usually leave about 10 to 15% of oxygen in the tank before they stop providing it to the user. So, there’s still a small amount of oxygen in the tank. The tanks exploded due to the fire, but they were not the cause of the fire itself.”
Both Strong and Wilkins’ cars were unaffected. While he had driven to work, her car was parked on the road due to garage door issues.
“Luckily, it wasn’t in there,” she said of her car. “That would have caused an even bigger explosion.”
‘The most important thing is that my family made it out alive’
Wilkins was at work at about 1 a.m. when he received a FaceTime audio call from a random number. He answered. It was Strong.
“I could barely understand what she was trying to say,” Wilkins said. “She was crying and she was just so devastated by what had just happened, that she couldn’t even get it out. So I asked, ‘Is there someone who can explain what’s going on?’”
A neighbor offered to speak to him, and Strong handed him the phone. The neighbor told him that there had been a fire and explosions. Initially, Wilkins said he had a hard time comprehending the severity of the situation.
The first thing he asked about was the condition of his family. Although the neighbor knew they were all in an ambulance, he didn’t have specific details on their well-being.
“At first I thought it was a joke because (the neighbor) said my house exploded,” he recalled. “I was like, ‘What do you mean my house exploded?’
Wilkins raced home, spotting the flames as he neared the neighborhood. He arrived at a chaotic scene, with fire trucks, police officers, and ambulances filling the area.
The impassable surroundings forced him to abandon his car and sprint towards the house and ambulance, where he found his family safe.
Wilkins noticed that Sade and Saniya were barely dressed, without shoes or socks. Sade was wearing a robe given to her by a neighbor. He then realized he had nothing more than the clothes on his back.
It was then that Wilkins said he fully grasped the magnitude of their loss.
“But the most important thing is that my family made it out alive,” Wilkins said. “I was (going to celebrate) my birthday on (June 4). We were all supposed to go to Valleyfair. But it wouldn’t have been a good birthday if my family had been lost. I consider myself lucky.”
He said he struggles to talk about what happened.
“As the father and the protector, it’s my role to stay strong and hold it together for the family,” he said. “I try to control my emotions a lot, but they do get the best of me sometimes talking about things that really matter.”
“My mother-in-law is a hero. My fiancée is a hero. She saved my baby girl, just one month old. And my mother-in-law, she suffered third-degree burns and second-degree burns on her back and leg. But she saved my daughter. My daughter has a few scratches from going through a window, but she’s alive, and that’s what matters. My mother-in-law is a hero. Her first reaction was, ‘My grandbaby, she’s 5, she’s in my bed. I have to save her; even if I don’t make it out, at least she does.’”
Nathaniel Wilkins
Wilkins becomes emotional when recalling a recent conversation with Saniya.
“My daughter looked at me and told me the other day that I wasn’t there, that I wasn’t there to protect them,” he said. “My biggest thing I used to tell her (was that) she didn’t have to worry because I was there.”
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