Community raising money to help Durham police Sgt. Dale Gunter after fire damaged his home

Friends and colleagues of Durham Police Sgt. Dale Gunter are raising money after his home was damaged in a fire Friday.

“Luckily no one was home during the incident, but the fire burned most of the rear and upstairs of the residence, resulting in extensive smoke, fire and water damage,” according to a fundraising campaign set up for Gunter and his family on crowdsourcing site GoFundMe. “The totality of impair is yet to be seen, but a great deal of personal effects and memorabilia are forever lost. The destruction caused by the fire will also keep the Gunter family out of their home for an extended period of time.”

Gunter, a veteran police officer, has served as a community liaison to various neighborhoods across Durham. Gunter became known to many through his emails to neighborhood list servs that jazzed up police information with humor, fashion advice and occasional rants about the daytime soap opera "The Young and the Restless."

As of lunchtime Sunday, the campaign had nearly reached it’s $10,000 goal within 22 hours of the start of the campaign, with 150 people having contributed $9,980.

This story was originally published December 17, 2017 at 9:26 AM with the headline "Community raising money to help Durham police Sgt. Dale Gunter after fire damaged his home."