Billy Crowe (left) and Gary Ray Johnson, investigators for the fire marshal, examine the remnants of a house fire at 253 Cave Spring Street on Dec. 10, 2012. (AJ Pierce/RN-T)
253 Cave Spring Road on Dec. 10, 2012 after a fire. (AJ Pierce/RN-T)
Gary Ray Johnson of the Rome-Floyd Fire Department said they are still trying to determine the cause of the fire, which broke out around 4:40 a.m.
While Trista Dennis said she is glad nobody was hurt, she is unsure how her family will begin to put things back together.
“I told her that they were thankful that everyone was all right,” said Trista Dennis’ mother, Abby Dennis. “The whole house is demolished. She lost everything she ever had.”
Trista Dennis said eight people were staying in the three-bedroom house, including her three children, ages 8, 3 and 1.
A friend of her uncle’s was staying at the house and heard a loud noise coming from the back yard. When he looked outside he saw flames on the back porch.
Trista Dennis said she had left the house before the fire started to bring medicine and diapers to the 3-year-old son’s dad, who was keeping him.
“By the time I made it back, it was all in flames,” Trista Dennis said.
She said her 1-year-old son had not been feeling well and was sleeping with her in her bed Sunday night but Trista Dennis had put him in his crib in his room before she left.
She said the fire started along the wall that both she and her youngest child had been sleeping near.
“If we had stayed asleep we probably would have burned up,” Trista Dennis said.
Among the items that were lost were the children’s Christmas presents, which Trista Dennis said she had just wrapped during the weekend.
“One of the grandchildren asked about the presents and I told him that Santa Claus would replace them,” Abby Dennis said.
The American Red Cross is putting Trista Dennis and her family up in a hotel for a couple of days and is helping them with emergency food, clothing and shelter, according to Northwest Georgia Chapter executive director Jeffrey Putnam.
Trista Dennis said a lot of her friends had given them clothes and a couple of her boyfriend’s friends who work with him at F&P Georgia Manufacturing were taking up donations for the family at the local automotive parts plant on Monday.
She said if anyone wanted to help to call her boyfriend Chris Brown at 706-766-0235.
Emergency responders arrived around 4:40 a.m. and found the residence at 253 Cave Spring St. fully involved.
After making sure everyone was out of that residence, police evacuated the homes at 255 and 251 Cave Spring Street.
The home at 253 Cave Spring St. was destroyed.
Staff writer Kim Sloan contributed to this report.