CHESAPEAKE, Va. (WAVY) — A Chesapeake family is starting the new year without a home after a fire broke out early Tuesday morning.
The fire happened on Isabella Drive just before 5:45 a.m..
The family said they’re devastated but grateful they made it out.
With only the clothes on their back, the Harrell family watched as firefighters sifted through what’s left of their home.
“You see it happen to everybody else and never think it’s going to happen to you,” said Keith Harrell.
Keith was asleep on his couch when the fire started.
“I don’t know what woke me up but I just turned around and my love seat was completely in flames,” he said.
He ran upstairs to wake up his wife, Lisa, and their daughter. Keith and his daughter escaped through the front door but the flames blocked Lisa’s path.
“I jumped up and ran out to the level he was on, where the couch was on fire, and I couldn’t get past it,” she said. “The windows started popping out and so I’m ducking and running and he’s yelling ‘where are you?’”
Lisa got to a set of stairs that leads to the garage. The family couldn’t believe how quickly the fire spread.
“It was just so bad by then, I couldn’t even breathe, so we just had to get out of there,” Keith said.
Firefighters arrived seven minutes later and flames were shooting out from the home.
The family said it’s believed the blaze started in the den area.
“Fire marshal said they thought it was electrical,” Keith said.
Although they no longer have a home, the family is thankful to be alive.
“That’s the main thing. Material things can be replaced,” Keith said.
We’re just lucky we have each other and we got out OK and our kids are safe,” Lisa said.
Some of the family’s cats died in the fire but the Harrells said they were able to get their two dogs out of the home.
Unfortunately they did not have home insurance, but the Red Cross is assisting the family with a place to stay.
There is also a GoFundMe page set up to help the Harrell family.