DENVER – Mother Nature isn’t cutting Gina Sarchione a break.
Gina’s home off East Colfax Avenue and Quebec went up in flames on Monday morning at around 9:45 a.m.
“I was in the kitchen doing dishes and I smelled smoke in the sunroom. I went out there to go see what it was,” Gina said. “When it started breaking out the windows and the smoke started filling up… I grabbed my phone. Luckily, it was right there, and I ran out the door and called 911.”
The fire quickly moved clear through the home she shared with her two sons for the last two months.
In the days that followed the fire, Gina thought she’d be able to salvage some of her belongings, but wasn't planning for Saturday's impromptu snowstorm.
“You know, I left a few things out here, that I found in the house. I forgot about them out here and then they got wet and ruined,” Gina said.
Her belongings are now damaged by smoke or snow.
Gina added, “The clothing and stuff that you thought you loved...— it is, it’s all replaceable. I’ll probably forget I even had it.”
One thing that isn’t replaceable? The only family member of Gina’s who was inside the home with her. Strider, the family dog, was in one of the bedrooms.
“I was devastated when I thought that he was trapped in there and I couldn’t go back and get him,” Gina said.
Strider, who Gina said joined the family as a therapy dog, was helping her Epileptic son.
“We love him. He really is part of the family,” Gina said while petting the 8-year-old dog.
Saving Strider was about the only silver-lining among the fire and ice surrounding the Poplar Street home.
Follow this link to the family's GoFundMe page.
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