LOCKPORT, N.Y. (WKBW) — After a house fire destroyed a Lockport family’s home and killed two of their pets, a neighbor is stepping in to help this family of seven recover and find a new place to live.
Rebecca Silsby had a busy Monday morning last week, getting all her kids ready for one of their first days of school, but that’s when busy took a turn for the worst.
Right after she got all the kids to school and rushed out the door for an appointment herself, the house her family has been renting caught fire.
“I just never would have expected this would happen. I’m a mom of five and a grandparent,” Rebecca said. “Everything I worked for, everything my kids have lived for, is in that house.”
Nobody was home at the time of the fire, except the family pets.
“We had two dogs in the house and a ferret. My one dog, Nash, passed away, my daughter’s ferret, he passed away,” Rebecca said. “My kids want to go home; we can’t go home.”
Firefighters were able to rescue one of their two dogs and resuscitate them outside the house.
The City of Lockport Fire Department said the fire is believed to be accidental, investigators are looking into unattended candles as the cause.
In the meantime, Rebecca, four of her kids, and their dog are living in a single hotel room.
“It’s tiring. It’s a lot. The kids, we are in a little hotel room, and they have nowhere to run, and everybody is getting on each other’s nerves,” Rebecca said. “They want to go home, and they can’t go home.”
A GoFundMe was set up in support of this family by neighbor Tonia Jackson in hopes of supporting the family during this hard time.
“I just wanted to do whatever I could to help them in any way possible,” Tonia said. “Children deserve to have their own spot and a place to call home.”
