The American Red Cross has a checklist of what to do in the event of a house fire. This checklist includes calling 9-1-1, checking doorknobs before using the doors, and getting out as soon as possible. However, in the heat of the moment during a fire, these tips and tricks disappear from your memory almost instantly. 

On February 11, 2025, six inches of snow fell in Louisa County and Louisa County Public Schools closed for the day. Many people considered this a good grace, but this blessing quickly turned into a burden for my family. 

Around 11:00 that night, a fire started in the walls of my parents’ bedroom and in the floor of the attic.

At that time, I was watching a movie in my room, about to brush my teeth and go to bed. The rest of my family was downstairs binge-watching a TV show. My dad went upstairs to his room and noticed that the outlet for his phone was not working and the lights were flickering. 

  This caused him to walk up to the attic, then go down to the breaker in the garage to see if a breaker had tripped. 

   About twenty minutes after my dad investigated upstairs, my parents yelled for me to come out of my room and quickly explained to me what was going on. 

   My mom told me something along the lines of, “We think the house is on fire and we’re going to have to leave.” This is when the fear I felt throughout the whole night started brewing in the back of my mind. 

  I cautiously ran around upstairs, looking for any signs of a fire, and finally found smoke rising from where the wall met the floor in the master bedroom. The overhead lights went off, and my mom frantically called 911 around 11:10 PM. 

 When your house catches fire, all you can think of is what you have to leave behind and what are the most important things you can try to save. I basically crashed into my room and grabbed my school and track bag, a watch that my father gave me, a hand-carved donkey I bought in New Mexico, and my state championship ring. 

   I grabbed these items because they were light and I could wear them on my person or put them in my pockets while I got out. I dashed outside with my sister, who had become more panicked, put her in the car with our dog to calm her down and made sure she was safe before running back inside.

  I have to add that you should never enter a burning building under any circumstances, in concern for your safety or anyone else’s. 

I darted up the stairs again and into my parents’ room, looking for anything I might be able to save and grabbed a wedding photo from their dresser. It was right next to the door and it jumped out at me as something I needed to take. I dashed down the hallway into my sister’s room, where my dad joined me and we grabbed her school bag and tablet off of her bed.

The minutes were passing faster and faster, and around 11:30, I hurried back outside to put what I grabbed into the car. I checked on my sister to see if she was all right before once again going back to the house. When I got to the front door, I heard a popping sound from the chimney area on the side of the house and saw a fire burning from the vent at the top of the house.

   I got back into the house, and my dad, who was also feeling the panic of the moment, was grabbing shoes from our front door. I yelled at him that we needed to leave. 

   I believe he was doing this because we had all entered a state of shock, and when you’re in a situation like this, where your most valuable possessions can be destroyed forever, you grasp onto anything in hopes of just having stuff you can hold.

   When we left the house, we moved the cars into the road and watched as our house burned in front of us. 

One of the hardest moments I experienced was when I heard the first set of sirens coming down the road. It felt that my world was being saved and I could breathe again, but the sirens belonged to a squad car from the county sheriff’s department. 

   The officer asked us if anyone was in the house and we said no, but as that happened my dad realized that our bunnies, who were in the basement, were still inside. Leading for me and my dad to sprint back into the first floor of the house and into the basement where we cleared both hutches of the bunnies outside in the backyard. 

 With living off of the backroads in Louisa, the plow trucks had not made their way to my street. Meaning the snow that had fallen the day before was still packed on the road. This prevented the fire department from being able to quickly and efficiently get to my house.  

   When the fire department fully arrived and was able to start extinguishing the fire, it was well after midnight, and over an hour since my mom called 911. 

   I had my breaking point shortly after this.  My knees buckled and I started to cry. I had to be comforted by my mom just to be able to stand up.

 The fire, at this point in time, was spreading to the upstairs bedrooms on the front of the house and across to the guest bedroom. Along with the more and more firefighters arriving, our neighbors had gathered in our culdesac and offered their support. Lots of hugs and comforting words were shared to me and my family, but at that point in time, it didn’t matter because my house was still burning. 

   The firefighters ran into the home and started to pull things out of the first floor that had not been affected by the fire. Anything that could be easily grabbed, like our dining room chairs, my dad’s guitar, and artwork from the walls, was shuttled out the front door. 

   After the firefighters cleared the first floor, they moved upstairs and started shooting water into the attic and master bedroom. My mom and dad decided that my sister and I should not watch the fire, and our neighbor graciously let us stay in their basement for the night. 

   This is where my time at my house ended, and I had to say goodbye to my home. I went inside my neighbor’s house to sit with my mom, and the world had never felt heavier.