CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Panthers head coach Ron Rivera's house is in, well, a rebuilding year.
"I gasped, and as soon as I gasped, he popped awake," Stephanie Rivera says of the moment she knew a fire broke out in her house.
It was Monday, January 5 at 4 a.m., when Ron and Stephanie Rivera woke suddenly to the smell of smoke. A fire sparked at the 7,000-square-foot home on Heydon Hall Circle in south Charlotte, which would do $500,000 in damage. Bedrooms, the family room and the attic were all scorched and left with water damage.
"It was like you had five guys in there smoking cigars. It was so thick, and it was crazy," Ron Rivera said.
Crazy, because they couldn't find the fire. Coach Ron went for the fire extinguisher in the kitchen as 911 was called, thanks to the home's security system. Coach says, "When I went from the kitchen to the bedroom, there was no smoke. It was just in the bedroom and I'm thinking, 'What's burning?'"
Ron and Stephanie were home at the time with his two brothers and their spouses, who were in town for the wildcard game the day before against Arizona. One of his brothers, Mickey, has been battling cancer. The family members grabbed all of his medication, and then escaped. All six of them made it safely to the lawn in minutes. Coach Rivera then backed his car out to the end of the driveway so Mickey could sit in warmth while crews battled the flames.
"We went out in our coats and our pajamas, grabbed the basic minimum, and went out," he said.
Little did the Riveras know, their fireplace had been built incorrectly, and was missing a metal plate. Fire investigators told them the fire smoldered in the crawl space, then went up the inside walls, and it didn't take long for crews to find the elusive flames.
"You could see (the firefighters) scurry through the house," he says. "They broke the three attic windows and by the time they broke the third one, you could see the flames."
It's an experience Ron goes over in his head.
"What else could we have done? I mean it's crazy because you try to think, 'Did we do something wrong?' 'Cause I know this, I have a family nickname. My family nickname is 'Mr. Safety,'" Coach Rivera laughed. "I mean, I check everything. Is everything off, is it put away where it's supposed to be?"
Stephanie chimes in saying, "He starts unplugging all the appliances," and Coach Ron adds, "No, but I do. That night, I'm the one who turned off the fireplace. I knew it was off."
Nothing was amiss before the fire started. Everything seemed fine. Rivera turned off the fireplace, and his family went to bed.
Photos: Aftermath of fire at Ron Rivera's house
The Riveras candidly shared what's important while sitting with NBC Charlotte for an exclusive interview in their house, which is now an on-going construction zone.
"I think it would have been more (emotional) had something happened to our dogs or any of us, but in the end, it's just stuff. But the fire department did a great job of saving a lot of personal things."
Among them, a 25-year anniversary gift from their kids, a collection of photos from each year they have been married, as well as the wedding album. They're all being restored. Then, there was the "little big thing."
"When the fire chief came out, the fire captain, he handed me my wedding ring. Little things like that, they do, they really get to you. It gets to you, it really does," Coach Rivera says, adding that was one of the most emotional moments for him that night. "That was big for me. It was still in the box, and he found it, and I said, 'Wow.' Because you know, that's been with me for almost 30 years."
Most of the precious mementos of a storied NFL career and family life together were saved. A helmet with the San Diego team logo completely melted, was lost, but now will serve as a reminder of the fire and what could happen to anyone, in any season.
It's why the Riveras want everyone to have a fire safety plan, like the one they developed as an elementary school project for daughter Courtney years ago.
Coach Ron says, "We did the whole family thing and it's always kind of stayed with us. And we always talked about it, 'Hey, you know, what if we can't get out that way? We'll have to go that way.' We have four areas of egress. This way or that way, and the worst case scenario, we'd jump out the windows.'"
The fire brought more awareness to the Riveras. Now a plan is part of the nightly routine. If it happens again, they'll feel more prepared and escape faster.
"I didn't have my I.D. or my purse or my wedding ring right there, and those things are hard to get back after something bad happens. It's a lot to take care of, so that's what I'm doing now. I always leave my purse by the nightstand and my wedding ring, and shoes, because Ron ran out in slippers. So I'm leaving my sneakers nearby too," Stephanie explains.
Coach Rivera said it took less than 10 minutes to get out the door. The process of walking around his home with a fire extinguisher in order to find the source of the flames delayed their exit. They quickly did give up, though, and ran out the front door to the driveway.
"Yeah, maybe even 6 or 7 minutes. And the reason it took that long is that there wasn't any flames, just smoke," Ron said.
And for the people that responded to help -- the neighbors who made coffee and breakfast for the family, the police and Red Cross, and of course the Charlotte Fire Department -- there is deep affection and gratitude.
Coach Rivera said often during the interview that he was amazed as he watched the fire department work in action. It took 60 firefighters to extinguish the flames. "I coach a team sport, but watching those guys work, it was just phenomenal."
"Yes, they were," he laughs, when asked whether the crews were surprised by responding to a fire at the coach's house. "I think they know because your name comes up. But I know they treated us like they'd treat anyone else, and I think that should be reassuring to the community."
While the idea is in its infancy, the Riveras say they will begin working on a national fire safety campaign. Until then, they want everyone to be prepared.
"You got to have some sort of early detection to be able to get out safely. It's important that I think people have to have the bare minimum, that you have to have smoke detectors," the coach said.
