Jessica Reneau is still trying to process the moment everything she owned went up in flames.
"This is everything that I worked so hard for. It's not easy to look at it. To have it gone, it's not easy. It's hard not to get emotional," she said.
Reneau said she had never experienced anything like the fire that tore through her rental home. "It was super scary. It was the first time in my life that I had actually even been in a fire or close to a fire. So to just see it getting big so fast and then just, you know. Pretty much watching my kitchen burn to smithereens. I mean, it's just it leaves you speechless," she said.
Now staying in a hotel provided through community donations, she recalled the moment she realized something was wrong.
"I work from home, and I started to smell something. I thought somebody was burning leaves, and so I didn't really pay attention to it. I walked around my house and I didn't see a fire on the inside, and the smell got stronger as I was working on my computer. That was the moment I realised that the storage shed, the roof, the chimney, everything was completely in flames."
Reneau said the fire destroyed nearly everything inside. "Unfortunately, I did lose all my furniture and everything that was in the living room," she said.
Fire officials say her experience is a stark reminder of how fast a fire can spread.
"Something so drastic can happen so fast. You don't want to say this is a small fire. There's no such thing as a small fire," said Mary Ann Murphy, community risk reduction specialist for the Fayetteville Fire Department.
The cause of Reneau's fire has not yet been determined, but Murphy said Fayetteville is seeing an alarming trend.
"Last year we had 38 structures this time of year, we're already up to 33. So that's a huge number and a lot of them are preventable," she said.
Despite the upheaval, Reneau said the community has stepped in to help her and her son move forward. "There have been people that reached out just to make sure that my son gets the best Christmas still even under the circumstances, and have offered to buy him Christmas gifts. At the end of the day, I'm blessed to be here and blessed that me and my son are okay. I mean, that's the best gift ever; we made it out."
Officials urge safety as temperatures drop.
Murphy said colder weather often leads to an increase in heating-related fires.
"Right now, it's very important that you say either space heaters or fireplaces that you're not leaving it unattended," she said.
She shared several safety reminders for the winter season
- Turn off indoor holiday decorations when you're not home.
- Water real Christmas trees regularly.
- Use a working carbon monoxide alarm with fireplaces or gas appliances.
- Turn off space heaters at night and keep them three feet from other items.
- Make sure smoke alarms are working properly.
Murphy also said families need to keep matches and lighters out of reach, noting a troubling pattern.
"We've had too many fires this year because children are finding lighters just lying around," she said.
Seventeen fires this year have been started by teenagers, she said.
Residents can request a free smoke alarm through the Fayetteville Fire Department's website or by calling 910-433-1116.
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