Couple found their home completely burned down — but what they discovered untouched in the rubble gave them hope
During tragedies, even the smallest bit of hope might make a person feel better. A family who lost their house to fire felt that too, after they found their wedding memorabilia in the rubble. They didn't know how the stuff managed to stay intact during the fire, but they were really grateful for it. The house was completely lost to the fire and the family would have to rebuild everything from scratch. They, fortunately, had insurance for the house, per First Alert 4.
The fire had started in the garage and gradually spread through the house. The woman, Danielle Blankenship, was sleeping when the fire started. The smell of the smoke woke her up and she went to check what was happening. When she noticed the fire, she immediately got out of the place along with her two children. The neighbors had called 911 by the time Danielle got out. Unfortunately, by the time the fire department arrived, the fire had spread from the garage to the rest of the house. The neighbor's house was also on fire within moments. The family also lost three of their cats to the fire and two others were missing.
Once the fire was out, the family went through the rubble to see if anything could be recovered. The woman was surprised to find hers and her husband's wedding rings, her veil, letters written by friends and family on their wedding day. Their wedding photo album had also managed to survive the blaze. "When you look at this, it looks like nothing. But we found our wedding rings and our photo albums. It has really been miraculous what things have survived." One neighboring house had also completely burned down because of the fire. The fire department had yet to determine what caused the fire in the first place, according to the outlet.
The family was trying to recover from the incident with the help of insurance, their neighbors and whatever they could salvage from the remains of the house. People could donate to help the family through Danielle's Venmo account. The Fire Chief, Kevin Baker, told Leader Publications that the police department was already at the site by the time they arrived. They had managed to get people in the neighboring houses out to safety and were checking in on them for any injuries caused because of the extreme heat from the fire. The department also had to call for additional help as the fire was rapidly spreading to the second house. "Because the fire was spreading to the second house, we wanted to request additional help," Baker shared.
The second house was on fire because of the wind. However, because the fire department had to use a lot of water to extinguish the fire in the attic of the second house, it might be completely lost as well. The department was able to get the fire under control after an hour of their arrival. They explained that the side of the house on the other end was also slightly burned, but the house didn't catch fire. All the people involved in the tragedy were otherwise safe and unharmed.