Coping with the loss of their home
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Jackie Powers said her family recovered a few Christmas ornaments from their house, but everything else is gone.
She said the fire started about 3 a.m. Monday and firefighters fought the blaze for almost 12 hours, with both Rock Island and Collins River fire departments on the scene.
“My husband, Glenn, woke me up screaming there was a fire and I went running in there. It was in the little office area and before we knew it, it just was gone,” she said, noting Glenn tried to combat the blaze by stifling the fire with heavy blankets.
“He said, ‘Get the kids,’ and I got the kids up and got them out and on the porch. I didn’t have enough sense and it happened so quickly to even get the shoes – just what we they were sleeping in, what we were all sleeping in,” she added.
Her husband almost didn’t make it out trying to save the family cat, which eventually succumbed to the blaze.
The home, which the family has lived in for about three years, is lost, but Jackie said what’s more important are the mementos and the adjustment to becoming familiar with what’s unfamiliar.
First United Methodist Church is allowing the family to stay in a home that belongs to the church. Church members have donated furniture, beds and some kitchen items.
And as several of them dropped by Friday afternoon to lend their support and dinner, Powers said she appreciates everything they’re doing and the little things about life, even if it has been a tough adjustment.
She also worries about her two children, ages 5 and 9, who lost their material possessions to a fire she thought may have started with electrical problems.
“I guess you have to take it day by day – just take each day as it comes and pray to God everything works out.”
A fund for the family has been set up at Union Planter’s bank and the church is accepting donations on behalf of the family. Powers also thanked the fire departments for their efforts.