FRANKLIN — A Franklin family is starting the school year in a hotel after a fire damaged their home Sunday morning.
Amber Cerasoli told TMJ4 News she was getting her 3-year-old dressed when her neighbor rushed inside.
“All of a sudden, my neighbor runs into my house screaming, ‘Fire, fire, get out’,” Cerasoli said. “My attic was on fire. I got the kids out. Got the dogs out.”
She said firefighters arrived quickly and contained the blaze, but not before it spread through the upstairs of the house.
“Just in utter shock,” she said. “This is all we have, this is everything.”
Cerasoli, a lifelong teacher, said the timing has made the fire especially difficult.
Watch: Franklin family displaced after fire days before school
With the first day of school two days away, among the many things they lost were her children’s clothes, packed lunches, and first-day outfits.
“The kids’ clothes, everything is wet, everything is horrible,” she said. “It’s very stressful to start the first day not living in our house anymore.”
The family of five is now staying in a hotel while they sort through what remains and search for temporary housing.
“It’s devastating, but I looked around at my family and thought least we have each other,” Cerasoli said.
“We have our lives, we have our dogs. All of this can be bought again.”
Friends have organized a GoFundMe page to support the family.
TMJ4 News reached out to the Franklin Fire Department for more information on the fire, but did not immediately hear back.
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