Colorado mother, 6 children displaced after fire rips through home
The fire broke out on April 29, while Gloria Johnson briefly stepped out to grab dinner. Moments later, her worst fear became reality.
A Colorado family is rebuilding after a devastating fire tore through their home, displacing six children and their mother.
CBS
"I had just had a long day, and I was very tired," Johnson recalled. "I was going to grab food and be right back. Then I got a call from my daughter saying the house was on fire."
She raced home, following fire trucks through the neighborhood.
"I was calling her, and she wasn't answering. I was just trying to make sure she got everybody out," said Johnson, who has 12 children—six of whom were living in the home at the time. She's raising them alone.
The fire started in the kitchen. Her daughter attempted to extinguish the fire herself using the family's fire extinguisher, but the flames spread too fast.
"She tried so hard," Johnson said through tears. "She felt so guilty because she wanted to save the house. This is the only house she's ever known."
The daughter suffered burns to her leg and foot and inhaled a dangerous amount of smoke. Despite her injuries, the teen made sure her siblings escaped safely.
Gloria Johnson had stepped out to get dinner when a fire consumed the kitchen and spread throughout the home.
CBS
"I smelled smoke upstairs," said her younger brother. "My twin went down and saw the fire. We all started crying, and my older sister kept going back in. We were telling her, 'Come out, come out!'"
The children made it to a neighbor's home, where the youngest sat in a truck in their pajamas, shivering. The fire nearly reached the furnace before crews arrived.
The family's home is now uninhabitable.
"I was hoping it was just the stove," Johnson said. "But when I did the walk-through with firefighters, I was in disbelief. It's black inside. Everything melted - furniture, TVs, clothes."
Trophies, family photos, and a chair that belonged to Johnson's late sister were also lost.
"We won the 2013 AYL Super Bowl," another son said. "All that work, all those trophies, gone. You can't get that back."
The family has been split up among relatives as they search for a way to stay together.
"This is their safe place," Johnson said. "There's no place like home, and now they don't have one."
The kids are struggling with nightmares and trauma. She's now working with social workers to secure counseling and trauma support.
"I've been crying over the memories," Johnson said. "Birthdays, holidays, laughter, it all happened here."
The family is working to stay together after the devastating fire.
CBS
Despite the devastation, the Johnson family is clinging to gratitude and community support. Friends, schools, the Red Cross, and several nonprofits have stepped in to help.
"We left with what we had on our backs," Johnson said. "But we have each other. We'll make more memories, God willing, in a new home."
A crowdfunding campaign has been created to help the family with emergency expenses and long-term recovery.
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