Gatesville family with 7-month-old baby asking for help after home burns down weeks before Christmas
GATESVILLE, Texas (KWTX) - A family in Gatesville is reaching out to the community for help after losing their home to a fire last week.
Shortly after 10 a.m. last Thursday morning, the Strong family got a call from a neighbor letting them know their house off Park Street was on fire.
According to the family’s insurance company, the fire was caused by electrical issues, started in a back room, and quickly moved to the room where their 7-month-old daughter sleeps at night.
“They’re claiming that it’s something electrical,” said Justin Strong, father and resident Gatesville home that burned. “They ruled out all the other possibilities. So, they’re stuck on something either being plugged in or something of that nature. It’s electrical for sure.”
The fire completely burned their 7-month-old daughter’s bedroom.
Now a little girl that has been taken from the only home she has ever known to live in a local hotel.
“She’s still trying to adapt to why she doesn’t have enough room to crawl around everywhere like she does,” said Strong. “She’s in that stage of crawling and walking now, trying to walk, she’s very limited on the space now so, she’s kind of like, what’s going on.”
At a time when most people are celebrating, the strong family is left with nothing.
“It’s just something unbelievable that you never think it’s going to happen to you,” said Judy Strong, mother of Justin Strong. “It’s pretty sad. Especially you know, at this time, Christmas and you know the cold and everything.”
The Strong family lost everything from clothes to baby formula and what little resources they do have, is paying for a hotel.
“We could basically use any help that we can get man, as far as we have nothing,” said Strong. “I know this is one of those hardest times of the year where probably a lot of people are, you know. It’s just a devastating event that just happens and it could have happened to anybody.”
The family has set up a GoFundMe and they said what they need immediately, is closes and formula for their 7-month-old daughter.
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