HARVEY, La. — In Jefferson Parish, the Red Cross is helping three women, who are now homeless, after an overnight fire destroyed their long-time family home. Firefighters said it was a smoke detector that saved their lives.
For more than three decades, generations have lived together in a family home in Harvey. In the last four months, two of the relatives passed away. Now for the remaining three women, all that's left are some family snapshots.
“Oh Jesus! Oh Lord! It's all in the front. My purse is in there! Lord have mercy,” screams out one of the victims, as she watched the house burn.
In the darkness, early Wednesday morning, it took 40 minutes for eight members of the Harvey Volunteer Fire Department to get the fire, in the 1700 block of Estalote Avenue, under control.
“Flames were coming out. There was smoke, thick smoke, and then the smoke it, it, it, was fast. And we were able to get out the house, thank God,” said Alecia, one of the fire victims.
The Harvey Fire Department says that at about 12:40 a.m., one of the women got up to go to the bathroom. That's when she, the smoke detectors go off, and it was those smoke detectors that alerted the other two women in the house to get out.
“The fire was rolling out of the windows and almost extending up the front of the house into the attic area. Thank God for the smoke alarms, because it probably saved the life of the others at the time in their bedrooms,” said Captain Michael McAuliffe.
Alecia is in her late 50s. Her two aunts are 68, and 73. One of her aunts came banging on her door to tell her to get out. The Red Cross is helping now, but long term they don't know where they will go.
“I never experienced anything like that before. It was, it was, just, it was scary. I'm going to to have to find somewhere else to live, somewhere to stay,” said Alecia.
The fire captain wants everyone to know that firefighters will come to your home and put in a smoke detector free. It's the new kind with a lithium battery that lasts 10 years.
“If you live in a house with working smoke detectors, your chances of dying in a house fire are cut in half,” said Capt. McAuliffe.
The three women survived with just the clothes on their backs, and now as seniors, have to start over.
“The grace of God and prayers, yes,” said Alecia about what’s keeping her together.
To help the women: