DETROIT, Mich. (WXYZ) — A family of four is now homeless for the holidays after a Saturday morning fire in Detroit destroyed the inside of the house they were renting.
It happened on Braile St. around 2 a.m., according to firefighters.
“My son ran downstairs and he started screaming and he said 'mom, mom, my room is on fire,'" Rosyln McGee said. "I had to hurry up and go run and wake my 12-year-old up and I had to grab my 3-year-old."
McGee believes the fire started in her 17-year-old son’s bedroom, which is in the basement.
“My whole left corner of my bed, ablaze," Antoine Jones said.
Everyone got out of the house, but the family tells us they are devastated having to deal with the loss of their home right before Christmas.
“It’s devastating. All of my Christmas gifts, all of my kid's stuff is gone. All of our clothes, everything. My coat is melted to the door,” McGee said.
The American Red Cross is providing this family with a hotel room for the weekend.
“Thank god for the American Red Cross. They have helped us get a room. We have a room for the next two nights, but what are we doing to do after that?" McGee said.
After that, the Detroit Fire Department asked 7 News Detroit to help connect McGee and her family to the city’s housing services.
The service, which was launched in June of last year, may be able to help them find a place to live that is more long-term.
McGee and her son Antoine said they are still coming to terms with what happened, and although Christmas will look different this year, they are just thankful everyone is OK.
“Materialistic things we can always get back, but a life you can’t get back, so I’d rather have my life and my children than anything materialistic," McGee said.
DFD is still investigating the cause of the fire.
