WAVERLY - A mother and her three daughters are relying on the support of family members and the generosity of local agencies after a Monday night fire that destroyed their home and most of its contents.
Sarah Gass and her three children were not at home when fire consumed the single-story house they rented in Briarwood subdivision in Waverly.
The Warren Avenue house was declared a total loss by the Wood County Fire Investigation Team, and the blaze was ruled suspicious by the lead fire investigator Danny Goodwin.
According to investigators, the fire had two points of origin, but the cause is still undetermined, said Goodwin.
"We lost almost everything," said Gass. "We had been living there for over a year, but at the time of the fire, we were staying with my brother. We got a phone call Monday night about the fire, and I couldn't even believe it. I was in shock."
Gass and her daughters Madison Rose, 9, Mikayla Jade, 3, and Kassidy Hope, 1, have been living with family members in Parkersburg and Marietta while they look for a new home.
"My two youngest daughters are a little too young to know what's going on, but Madison has been a little trooper during this process," said Gass. "I'm just glad we're all safe and we weren't in the house when the fire began."
The Memorial Church of the Good Shepherd has given the family clothes, while the American Red Cross has referred them to a local food pantry. Vienna Volunteer Fire Department provided a mattress and box springs, along with a recliner.
"All the furniture and our beds are gone, and most of our clothes," she said. "But the hardest part was losing the personal items that are so dear to us. Fortunately, the firefighters were able to pull out a box of collectibles that once belonged to my grandmother. I guess they were all intact, and so were a few photographs of my grandmother."
Gass said the Department of Health and Human Services has been helping her look for an affordable place to live.
"Our entire family has been so wonderful, and the community support is just overwhelming," she said.
