‘I just fell to my knees’: Belton family loses everything, including pets, just days before Christmas

BELTON, Texas (KWTX) - A family in Belton won’t be celebrating Christmas like usual because their home, pets and presents were lost in a fire.

Just nine days before Christmas, the Espino family lost all of their personal belongings.

“I fell to my knees and broke down and prayed. There was nothing else I could do,” Elizabeth Espino says.

It was the middle of the afternoon when they believe their AC/heater caught fire and then she got a call from her neighbor.

“I was at work, my boyfriend was at work, my daughter was at school. I don’t even remember leaving work but I grabbed my purse and left,” she explains.

On top of losing all of their belongings and Christmas gifts, they lost three of their pets, too.

“It was a total loss. There was nothing they could do. We were able to find two pets but there’s one still in there that we aren’t able to find,” Espino says.

And the only thing giving her peace is knowing they didn’t suffer. “They had already passed with all the smoke coming into the house.”

The aftermath is greatly affecting their daughter who is now over analyzing their surroundings.

“She’s scared to be alone now. She always makes sure the doors are closed. She wants to unplug everything because she is scared something will happen at night,” she explains.

Community has been their saving grace, someone kindly gifting them a furnished home so they can spend Christmas together.

However, the road ahead is long so a GoFundMe is set up to help them establish a new normal.

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