At 4am last night, my sister-in-law's brother's home caught fire. They lived in a townhouse and they believe the fire started in a neighboring home that was vacant. Probably gas, they don't know yet

The humans are safe, two adults, a toddler and an infant. And I'm so grateful for that. I don't know her brother so well, but I am pretty close with my sister-in-law

Unfortunately, they had no time to grab anything. Phones, clothes, wallets, fuck all

And most unfortunate, they couldn't get their two cats out

My sister, Alex, went ahead and bought them each 3 sets of clothes, insurance gave them 15000 for immediate needs but it's insurance so they don't technically have it yet

Also... they didn't grab their wallets and that's a whole endeavor on its own

The kids birth certificates are gone, I mean. They literally lost everything

Alex and I are encouraging them to consider a GFM because. Infant. Toddler. No cards or cash. Alex and Jenna are supporting them as best they can. They're staying at their place for the time being but they really just have 1 spare room for all of them

I offered to come up and help but they don't need more bodies right now lol so my offer was declined

If they do a GFM, I'll post it here. I just don't know yet. There is pride but god

oh no

Just. Fuck though, if I may.

please post it if/when they do a gfm. I'm so sorry to hear this

Yeah, I will. I think everyone is just really shaken

Fuck I'm just so glad they are okay and the kids

The toddler starts kindergarten in the Fall (I think? I guess he's not so toddler now)

Poor kiddo is old enough to remember this is all I'm thinking. He's such a sweetheart but he's also such an emotional little one, as toddlers are

Fairfax County Fire and Rescue (@ffxfirerescue) • In...There's literally nothing left

That's fucking heartbreaking. Please share a GFM if they set one up.

Omg, that’s horrible D: definitely will boost if they set up a GFM

...it is a little WEIRD to me that Fairfax FFR posts video but I guess...not my house...

Yeah, I was a little surprised to do a news search and be like.... why is instagram the first result

If they do a gfm I'll put it up here for sure. But I ... doubt they will. Jenna's brother is a prideful man and her whole family are very "pick yourself by the bootstraps" types

It's okay to ask for help. This is.. an absolute tragedy it's not the time for pride

Katie is offering them to stay with us, but we are 2.5 hours away even if we have the room to accommodate them. But obviously, Jenna's brother still has to go in for work and I'm not sure we can convince him to be away from his family at a time like this

Basically our suggestion was, his wife and the kids stay with us and he stays with Alex and Jenna in the meantime (Alex and Jenna are like. 15 min from where their house was)

Yeaaah, I definitely both know the type and would feel exactly the same way. Like, half the time those are the same people who value neighbors taking care of each other, or at least had families who did, but when it comes to themselves... oof

Yes, exactly

I hope they at least accept some kind of help from the family because it doesn’t sound like there are a whole lot of options?? :// Sending the best thoughts

Thanks

And ya, we're offering everything we can. Jenna's parents live 30 min from us (3 hours away from them) but they don't have the space we do here so I don't know what decisions they'll make. Best we can do is offer and work through it

Maybe the angle of "you're not asking for help, you're allowing the community to help if they want to" might make it more palatable?

That's a good angle, I'll suggest it to Alex. She's really the one trying to talk them into it.

Honestly, though. I think it's in part to alleviate some pressure on Jenna and Alex to fill the gap. Without community support, it's mostly falling onto them. They are absolutely happy to help and they love their nephews but... it's a lot to take in suddenly

And diapers........ ain't cheap

Infant is ~8months

yeah he probably sees it as begging for a handout but

bruh

as the song says, we all need somebody to lean on

That's so awful. I'm glad they made it out okay and I hope they'll consider the gfm option.

If they feel weird or selfish about setting it up just for themselves, maybe they would feel better about joining a group one if anyone else was a affected in other townhomes?

Yeah, 2 of the other homes were impacted, but both were vacant

Which is good, there could have been casualties otherwise

Other homes were evacuated, apparently Jenna's brother woke up the whole row pounding on doors for them to get out just in case

Still, we are offering to put up the gfm for them or on their behalf? I don't know if it helps, but maybe if it's like Alex or I doing it then it's not so bad

But last I talked with Alex, they were still declining. I'm gonna call her tomorrow and see how things are or if I can send them something

Some good(?) news. Insurance went through for the immediate needs. Alex is taking the week off to help care for the nephews. But since insurance went through, they are feeling comfortable without needing to do a gfm at this time

Slightly sadder note

The toddler refused to go to daycare today because he was scared about leaving Alex and Jenna's cats at home

ugh it hurts my heart

I am relieved about the insurance but also just. Reminders that it's gonna be a while to be okay

Alex and Scott's birthday is on Saturday and Alex and Jenna were going to go to the lake to celebrate with friends but they've canceled. Scott's still going with his wife. I don't think Alex minds? I think she wants to support her brother-in-law and all

But still geez

Katie wants to put together a care package to send to them, I told her to just send them gift cards or cash but I think she prefers the package idea lol

poor kiddo

'we had to leave the cats and now they're gone' is going to resonate hard with him for a while, understandably