Family needs help after devastating fire
Just a few more minutes and Frank Whitcomb wouldn’t have lived through the fire that burnt down his trailer.
“If it wasn’t for my dogs, he’d be dead,” his partner April Burrier said.
The couple’s two dogs, Baby Girl and Houdini woke Whitcomb up by barking and tugging at his clothes.
“By the time I woke up, I could see the flames already,” Whitcomb said. “I woke up and saw the flames all around me.
Along with his dogs, Whitcomb jumped from his bed and ran out of the trailer. On the way out, he singed his hands trying to pick up some water.
Burrier was at work at the time of the fire.
Just a few minutes after he escaped, the whole trailer was burning.
“It’s just material things. I’m just glad he’s alive,” Burrier said. “We can always start over.”
By the time the fire department arrived, the entire trailer had burnt to the ground.
While Whitcomb and Burrier were happy no one was hurt in the Monday, Sept. 30 fire, they’ve lost nearly everything.
The couple has their cars, their dogs, the clothes they are wearing and each other.
“I cry a lot,” Burrier said. “We lost everything.”
Over the years, the couple has collected miniature elephants, roses in glass globes and more. All these items are now gone, she said.
Even more important items are gone too. The ashes of Whitcomb’s mother, and the ashes of Burrier’s previously deceased dog are gone as well.
Whitcomb is also missing a necklace.
“It was the last thing my mom gave me before she died,” Whitcomb said. “It was hanging in the kitchen.”
Since the fire, Whitcomb and Burrier have both struggled to sleep.
The couple didn’t buy house insurance because it was expensive, and are currently staying with their friend, Charlotte Silvers.
In their need, Burrier and Whitcomb are asking for help from their community.
Bobcat Dumpsters has been cleaning up the wreckage of their home for free.
Silvers, is letting them stay at her house and has opened a GoFundMe page to help them. Those interested in giving can find the page online at facebook.com/csilvers1212.
“I don’t wish this on my worst enemy,” Burrier said.