An older couple and their family are forced out of their home after a night of celebration ended in a chaotic fire.
Monday, Otis Shields returned to his backyard where he said, “We saw an explosion, and apparently that’s when the fire hit the wall.”
Just yards from where Shields stood, a blue tarp covered the extensive damage left behind from unknown fireworks, he said, that sparked a house fire the morning of July 5.
“I was still in there. I don’t know why I was in there, maybe just looking around and hoping for hope, but then the smoke just came down on me,” Shields said.
According to Shields, just hours after the Fourth of July, he and his family went to bed unaware of what would pop up at their doorstep.
“The fire was up the wall and working in the attic that way,” Shields said.
The couple in their 70s, their family and church member Lionel Winston, who was staying over, began scrambling to get out to safety.
“It was engulfed in smoke. I ran up there to grab my son, grab the dog, ran downstairs, and we made it out,” Winston said.
The New Orleans Fire Department has not determined the official cause of the fire, but the family believes video shows what sparked the chaos.
“They have all these ordinances in the city where they say don’t pop firecrackers in the city, and this is one of the reasons why you shouldn’t do it,” Winston said.
The family is now displaced and forced to live with their daughter, Nicolette Pitre, who said, if she could rebuild it herself, she would.
“I know that they desperately need the funds to be able to finance this project,” Pitre said.
According to Pitre, because the home needed repairs before the fire, insurance won’t help.
“They’re always looking at the cup as half full instead of half empty,” Pitre said.
Still, the family is holding on to hope and praying for a miracle to rain on this unexpected firestorm.
“We’re trying our best to rebuild to get us back into the house,” Shields said.
The family is doing all they can to pick up the pieces, including starting a fundraiser to help out.
They said they’re simply doing what they can to get back on their feet.
READ MORE:House fire displaces older couple, reportedly sparked by fireworks
