An aspiring fireman and beloved “big-time father,” David “Moose” Thompson could light up the room with his humor and made a living out of helping others — of all ages.

Less than two years ago, Thompson, along with his wife, Lilly Reasor, and four children moved to Redmond from Colorado “looking for a fresh start,” according to Thompson’s good friend Josh Funkhouser, who still lives in Colorado.

“I talked to him on New Year’s Eve,” Funkhouser said. “They sounded good and happy.”

Just hours after talking to Funkhouser on the phone, Thompson and his four boys — ranging in age from 2 to 12 — died in a fire that quickly raged through the Sammamish Ridge Apartments, at 14820 Redmond Way, where he and his family lived. Thompson and his children died from smoke inhalation, officials with the King County Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday.

Reasor, 31, escaped as neighbors and firefighters had to restrain her from running back into the burning building as she screamed in agony.

Reasor was treated at Evergreen Hospital Medical Center for smoke inhalation and other injuries and was released Monday night, according to hospital spokeswoman Sherry Grindeland. Hospital nurses collected clothes for Reasor so she had some clothes when she left, Grindeland said.

“It’s beyond mind-blowing,” said Funkhouser, who was the godfather to Thompson’s children. “It doesn’t seem too real at this point.”

The children who died in the fire have been identified by medical examiner’s office as 12-year-old Tristan, a seventh-grader at Rose Hill Junior High; David Jr., a 6-year-old first-grader at Benjamin Rush Elementary School; 4-year-old Leviticus; and Wyatt, who recently turned 2.

Tristan was a good-natured, polite kid who had a great sense of humor, according to Rose Hill Junior High principal Laurynn Evans.

“We talked just about every day at lunchtime,” Evans said of Tristan. “He made a point to say ‘hi’ to me and ask how my day was going and he apparently did this with all staff who he knew. … Teachers speak very highly of him and all recall him as being a kind kid who liked helping out in class.”

David also had two other children — a son and daughter — who are living down in Colorado with his ex-wife, who is also the mother of Tristan.

“He was a big-time father,” Funkhouser added. “He loved his kids.”

And he worked hard to provide for his family, according to Teresa Lunsford, the apartment resident manager. David worked as a maintenance assistant at the apartment complex, was always smiling and eager to lend a helping hand, Lunsford said.

“He was wonderful,” Lunsford said. “He was a good dad. He was a good husband. … He was a happy-go-lucky man. I never saw him without a smile.”

Always a good neighbor, everyone knew David at the complex. He painted walls, fixed toilets and even helped the elderly residents out of their cars, Lunsford said.

Lunsford said David had just bought a tent for the boys, so they could camp out in the living room on New Year’s Eve. David and his boys spent their last night laughing together, watching Amazing Pet Videos, Lunsford said.

“Life was good for his family,” Lunsford said. “He and his family were in a community that truly loved them.”

INVESTIGATION CONTINUES

Redmond Police spokesman Greg Twentey said police and fire investigators have finished collecting evidence and the state crime lab is now working to process evidence. He said the official cause of the fire is still unknown, adding that he doesn’t know when the cause of the fire will be determined because the forensic tests are in the hands of the crime lab and those results can take a long time.

Fire officials said they believe the fire was accidental. Authorities continue to question apartment tenants and are investigating whether the fire was caused by cigarette and marijuana ashes, according to a Seattle Times report, which cited an unnamed “law-enforcement” source and Belinda Young, a neighbor who was at the couple’s unit the night of the fire.

The Seattle Times report said that David and his wife spent part of last Friday night celebrating the New Year by smoking marijuana in the bathroom, according to Young. The story went on to say that Reasor also was smoking cigarettes in the bathroom and flicking ashes into a wastebasket, again attributing Young.

Twentey declined to speculate on the Seattle Times report, but did say that the anonymous source did not come from the Redmond Police Department.

Lunsford said the article was false and irresponsible. First off, she said, David passed a drug test to work at the apartment complex, so the marijuana claims don’t match up. Lunsford also said that Young told her that her comments to the newspaper were taken out of context and sensationalized.

“Belinda (Young) told me that she said they were smoking rolled tobacco (not marijuana),” Lunsford said. “I’m just telling you what she told me.”

Lunsford said she is discounting the article’s claims until investigators announce the official cause.

Lunsford told Young that she needs to set the record straight, but right now, Young is too “scared and upset,” Lunsford said. Young was not available to the Reporter for comment.

The fire on the ground-level unit broke out at 2:30 a.m. Saturday morning and quickly burned the two units above. No other residents were injured, although many risked their lives to help others, said Lunsford, who lives on site and was on hand before fire and police arrived. Crews from five departments, including Redmond, Bellevue, Kirkland, Woodinville and Eastside Fire, responded. There were nine apartment units in the destroyed building, with seven of them occupied, Lunsford said. Those seven families have found temporary housing as Lunsford and apartment staff work to find permanent housing elsewhere in the area.

The building reportedly had smoke detectors but not sprinklers, which weren’t required when the complex was built in the mid-1980s.

‘GOOFY’ MOOSE WHO LOVED TO HELP

Funkhouser, a single Dad of two children, met David 15 years ago in Colorado when the two were working at a moving company. They became close friends and their children became friends.

“Moose was a real goofy guy,” Funkhouser said. “He loved to joke around and make people laugh.”

David opened his own moving company called, Moosey’s Moving, about three years ago, Funkhouser said.

“Everybody knew him,” he said. “He helped out a lot of good friends. He helped a lot of families out of a hole during tough times.”

But then tough times came upon David, whose business began to fail.

“The season was down,” Funkhouser said of David’s moving business. “He ran into issues. He sold everything and took off to Seattle.”

Funkhouser said David fell in love with the Northwest on a moving job right before he moved to Redmond a year and half ago. David worked hard to provide for his family, doing all kinds of jobs, including working as a maintinence assistant at the apartment complex. He wanted to become a firefighter and had recently passed the initial tests to become a firefighter, Funkhouser said.

“He was hardworking,” Funkhouser said. “He did what he had to do to make a life for him, his wife and kids.”

Funkhouser said his boys were a lively bunch, but always “did what Dad told them.”

“It’s world changing in losing this guy and his family,” Funkhouser said.

Two funds through Banner Bank have been set up to help Reasor at The Lilly Reasor Fund and the displaced residents, many of whom lost all of their belongings, at Sammamish Ridge Apartments Displaced Residents Fund.