Roxboro family loses everything in fire weeks before Christmas

ROXBORO, N.C. (WTVD) -- While so many woke up to enjoy a blanket of snow Sunday morning, the Garnett family woke to smoke and flames tearing through their Roxboro home.

"I thought our cat which stays in my bathroom was playing with her rattle and it got louder and I got up and checked when I stepped in the hallway I could see flames down hall rolling in the ceiling just black and red and I just screamed, 'the house is on fire!'" Sharon Garnett explained.

Sharon, her fiance, and all five children made it out safely, but, the family's cat is still missing. "We had to run for our lives and we all got out safe and sound except I don't know where my cat is but we're all alive and I'm blessed, truly blessed," Garnett said.

Friends and family are rallying around the Garnett's, who are now staying at a Person County hotel. Since losing everything less than two weeks before Christmas, the holidays will be difficult as the family works to start over.

"Right now, we're looking for a home," Garnett said. "It's winter and Christmas and it's the worst scenario to be in at this time, looking for a home to put a roof over these children's head to get them back to normalcy and school because they are all straight A students and all their stuff we had at home, learning materials and laptop, all that stuff-everything is gone."

Investigators are still working to determine an exact cause of the fire, but the fire chief informed the Garnetts that it appears an electrical problem led to the blaze.

If you want to help the Garnett family, click here for a link to their GoFundMe page.