A Loudoun County, Virginia, family is picking up the pieces and trying to rebuild after losing everything they owned in a house fire on Dec. 1.
Janae Wheeler said the Sunday of the fire began like many others. The event planner had just returned to her Leesburg home on Leeland Orchard Road after setting up a holiday market in Ashburn.
Wheeler, her husband and their three children were enjoying a funny show on Netflix as they waited for their youngest son and her mother-in-law to return home before a family trip to the trampoline park.
The laughs, though, would be interrupted by the screeching sounds of a fire alarm around 1 p.m.
“We heard our smoke detector go off, and we smell the smell you don’t ever want to smell in your home,” Wheeler said.
With the harsh smell of smoke coming up from the basement, her husband rushed to investigate. However, Wheeler said, he knew there was a fire before even making it all the way down the stairs. He quickly ushered the family out of the home and dialed 911.
While outside, the family watched as flames emerged from the basement window. Although her husband tried to contain the flames as they awaited the fire department’s arrival, the cold temperature hampered his efforts.
“He grabbed the water hose, trying to put it out, and the lines were frozen,” Wheeler said.
Wheeler said that even though fire crews arrived on the scene in a timely manner, help ultimately came from all over since the home’s water lines were frozen.
“These heroes came through with water trucks from Purcellville, from Ashburn,” she said “(They) all came, trying to provide as much water as possible to extinguish the fire.”
Despite efforts to successfully extinguish the fire, the home was completely destroyed. Loudoun County Combined Fire and Rescue deemed the cause of the fire as “combustibles too close to a heat source.”
Now, the family is in a temporary home as they work with insurance adjusters and try to figure out how to rebuild. Wheeler said they didn’t realize their home insurance only covered the payoff of the mortgage. At this point, they do not have enough money to rebuild.
“So we’re short, we’re going to be able to cover the payoff on the home, but there are no funds to rebuild the house,” Wheeler said.
Another difficult part has been losing so many irreplaceable keepsakes in the fire.
Wheeler said that during an event on Saturday, nearly a week after the fire, tears filled her eyes as she saw a woman building crafts with her son, telling him to put the year on it so they could look at it in the future.
That, Wheeler said, was something she would do with her children: “It was heartbreaking for me, because there’s nothing left. … There’s nothing in our home, except for the memories that we made there.”
Wheeler said they are determined to rebuild and keep their home in Leesburg, and said they also plan to keep the many holiday market events they planned running as they work.
“Our work in creating these beautiful moments of joy for others continues to fuel us,” Wheeler said.
The Virginia mom said she’s thankful that her entire family and their “fur-baby,” Gigi the dog, got out unharmed. Wheeler credits that to the door of the basement being closed, which gave them several extra minutes to get outside before the fire made its way upstairs.
Wheeler said she urges others to always keep doors closed, including bedroom doors, especially at night.
“A closed door takes 20 minutes to burn through, per the fire marshal, and that’s enough time to save your life. That’s enough time to figure out how to get out of one room through a window and get into another room through a window, and keep your family safe,” she said.
Friends of the family have launched a GoFundMe campaign to help them get back on their feet. So far, they’ve received over $13,000 of their $100,000 goal.
Wheeler said the support she and her family have received since the fire has been amazing.
“My husband and I both have just sat down and cried at how much of a village that we have around us,” Wheeler said. “It’s just been a whirlwind of support and love around us from the community, and we have been able to feel a sense of hope because of how positive everyone is around us.”
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