LAFAYETTE, La. — A Lafayette family is left picking up the pieces after a fire completely destroyed their home on Jeanette Street on January 13. Fortunately, the mother and daughter who were inside the home at the time of the blaze managed to escape unharmed, thanks to the quick actions of a neighbor.
The fire erupted shortly after the mother and daughter had finished preparing dinner. According to the homeowner’s daughter, Michelle Douet, the mother smelled something burning upon returning from work, but the odor didn’t seem to be coming from inside the house. About 40 minutes later, the situation quickly escalated into a full-blown fire.
A neighbor, Hayden Whatley, noticed the smoke and immediately ran outside to alert the family. “I looked out the window and I noticed there was a fire,” Whatley recalled. He quickly ran to the house with his parents, banging on the family’s car and yelling for them to get out. “My stepdad started banging on their car and yelling for them to get outside,” Whatley said. Thanks to their swift response, the mother and daughter were able to safely escape the flames, along with their dog.
While the family is grateful for their survival, they are left with little more than the few belongings they managed to save. Douet explained that the only items that survived the fire were photo albums that had been stored in a drawer. “That’s basically all that got saved,” she said.
Fire officials have yet to determine the exact cause of the blaze, but they are focusing their investigation on the possibility of extension cords being involved. “Our concerns right now, primarily, would be looking at extension cords,” said Alton Trahan with the Lafayette Fire Department. “We’ve been looking at them and where they ran under the carport, just to see if they had anything plugged up.”
As the family processes the loss of their home, they have started a GoFundMe campaign to help their mother and sister rebuild their lives. A link to the fundraiser will be shared when available.
The fire serves as a stark reminder of how quickly disaster can strike, and the community is rallying around the family as they begin the long road to recovery.