thanks to the Callaway Courier for sharing
Gratitude Arises From The Ashes:
Community Rallies Around Family in Time of Need
The morning of Feb. 10 started out like any other typical Monday for Jodie Wewel, Marcus Blackburn, and their family. With Jodie and the kids out the door for school, daycare, and work, Marcus was going through his usual morning routine on his way to work too. However, within the blink of an eye, their world turned upside down. This is the story, in their own words, of a tragedy that everyone hopes to never experience.
“I took my youngest to daycare at 7:30 in the morning then I dropped the other two off at school directly after that. Then I went back to the house to grab my wallet that I had forgotten, then headed to Broken Bow to work. That was about 7:35,” Jodie recounted. “I run a cleaning service and while I was working I got a phone call about 8:55 a.m. from Marcus saying that our house was on fire. I left immediately and drove back to Callaway.”
Jodie said when she arrived at the family’s home firefighters were on scene and smoke was rolling from their house. Once the fire was finally out, she said the couple spent the rest of the day dealing with the fire marshal and insurance agents.
Marcus had gone out to the garage to grab a soda and then walk down the block to work at Callahan Smith Electric, as he does every morning, planning to start at 9 a.m. “By the time he had grabbed a soda and walked out of the garage from the house that he had just been in the house was already too far gone to put out,” Jodie shared. “He could hear the smoke alarms going off and ran up to the house and opened the door.”
The family had a house guest at the time. Jodie’s mom, from whom she had been estranged for 17 years, was staying with them for a couple of weeks in hopes of mending fences with her daughter. She had been in the home for a week at the time of the fire.
“We had put her in one of the bedrooms and she had a bunch of stuff in there, and had brought a dog with her that we weren’t aware would be coming,” Jodie continued. “That created a lot of tension and awkwardness in our home. The day of the fire she had apparently lit two candles then shut the bedroom door with the dog in there while she went to the bathroom. When she was in the bathroom she heard the smoke detectors going off then opened the door to her room and saw the fire and tried to get the dog out of the room. She didn’t shut the door because she was worried about trying to get the dog to safety. The room was completely engulfed by the time she opened the door.”
Marcus had shared that when he opened the back door of the house he had to drag Jodie’s mom out of the house as she was trying to get to the animals. He handed her his phone to call 911, then got down on his belly and tried to crawl into the smoke-filled house in an attempt to rescue the pets.
“There was so much smoke he could only see from about a foot off the floor up,” Jodie explained. “He was only able to make it in the back entrance a couple of feet then backed out and said the fire was too far gone and the animals were already gone.”
Realizing that the 911 call had not been made, Marcus hurriedly summoned help. The first to arrive on the scene was Dan Trumbull, with other firefighters shortly behind. However, the house was not able to be saved. It was a total loss. Jodie said the weather has slowed down the insurance inspection process, and once that is completed the couple plans to tear down the house and rebuild.
“We love our property so much, and we loved our house so much,” Jodie added. “Our neighbors are absolutely phenomenal. We thought that before the fire and now we are just grateful for the entire community. No words can say how grateful we are.”
In the meantime, the family has relocated into a home in the country for three months and will then move to a house in town where they will live until they can rebuild their home.
“We just could not be more grateful for all we have received,” Jodie said as her voice cracked with emotion. “There are so many donations that we don’t even know about yet that are still coming in from this community.
Jodie and Marcus have four children: Jaelynn is 15, Couper is 9, Rayna is 8, and Micaiya is 2. The family lost two cats and six fish in the fire. Her mother’s dog was also lost.
Grateful is a word that Jodie used several times throughout our conversation. Grateful that no one was hurt, and for the blessings and support they have encountered since Feb. 10.
“This community came together and got us into a fully furnished home quicker than blinking,” Jodie shared. “We are beyond words grateful for the way everybody gathered around and picked us up on a day of total loss. It is astonishing what this community has done.”
