NEW ORLEANS — Thanksgiving Eve 15 people were preparing to celebrate the holiday, a holiday aimed at giving thanks and cherishing those we love the most. Instead, 15 Mid-City residents had their lives ripped apart by fire.
Bryon Asher, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, and their dog Ida were peacefully sleeping during the early hours of Wednesday morning. Asher said, "I woke up and went to the front door [and] saw like the glow of fire through the French doors."
The crackle of flames tore through their peaceful silence, he said, "Initially thought it was maybe a small porch fire from a cigarette butt or something like that... Within in like 15 seconds, it was way bigger and the door was emanating heat."
Pelot-Hobbs said, "I heard this woman just screaming for help."
The safety and comfort they found in the four walls the duo called home for nearly a decade; was the space they were now running from. Asher said he woke up his partner of 12 years, and his sister who was in town for the holiday, and rushed them out.
"It's a crazy feeling to watch all of your worldly possessions go up in smoke in a matter of minutes," he said.
The New Orleans Fire Department says the fire started just before 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, ripping through two buildings on Norman C. Francis Parkway. After the fire, NOFD Captain Edwin Holmes said, "We had two very large multi-unit apartment buildings, heavily involved in fire, a second alarm was struck immediately."
It took 52 firefighters to contain the blaze. What's left of the homes of 15 people, are charred remains and fading memories. Pelot-Hobbs said, "My first thoughts were like is everyone going to live through this?"
The couple's plan was to celebrate Thanksgiving with family who'd traveled in from out of town. Asher said, "Who could ever imagine they would go away for four days and return with a shred of your belongings."
Amid the ashes, the pair now have to pick up the pieces of what's left behind. They also have to find the inner strength to move forward, but also somehow find hope somewhere amongst this devastation.
On the floor, of a family friend's garage, lay some of Pelot-Hobbs' 1,000 books, she said, "Many of those books are out, are from presses that are out of print, some of them were first editions that don't exist anymore, more than that they had all my thoughts."
Further back in the corner is some of Asher's musical instruments. A musician, Bryon's prized possession his Clarinet, lost forever, along with his 1,000 records.
"A lifetime of instruments and a lifetime of notes and handwritten music... A whole archive of my musical life," he said.
But from the rubble of their once home, the pair say they will rise from the ashes, determined to begin again.
Fire damages Mid-City couple's home
If you'd like to help the couple, here is the link to their GoFund Me.
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