SOUTHAVEN, Miss — A Southaven, Mississippi, family is breathing a sigh of relief, but also mourning the loss of their beloved family pets after a fire destroyed their home.
The Najera family is thankful to all still be together, but now are looking for help from the community to rebuild.
Thursday’s ice storm already presented challenges. For much of the morning they didn't have power.
"My brother was in shorts. My little brother didn't have shoes on because they were in the house and they ran out with nothing," said Nayeli Barron.
Barron, 20, is her mother's daughter from a previous relationship. She said she was at her grandmother's house, but her siblings and parents were huddled in the family living room with no power when they heard two loud noises.
"The first noise we heard we thought it was branches breaking off because that was going on all day. The second boom - that’s when they realized it wasn’t that. It was more louder so that’s when they ran out," Barron said.
Southaven Fire Department was on the scene within four minutes of the 911 call, but the home was lost to flames. On Friday, an oxygen mask lay in the yard where crews tried to rescue seven puppies and a mother dog suffering from smoke inhalation. None survived.
The Najeras said they only have the clothes they had on when they ran out of the house.
"With nothing on their backs pretty much and pretty much have to start from the bottom," said Sonny Barron, Nayeli's aunt.
Little acts of kindness have begun to pile up though. Sonny took to Facebook asking her Mississippi community for help and started a GoFundMe page. Donations have begun flooding in. The Najeras spent much of Friday driving around to collect those acts of kindness.
"The community has been helping so much just with donations, money, with even just sharing the post that we’ve created," Sonny said.
Now the Najera family, all still together, will start over.
