MEMPHIS, Tenn. — As flames shot several feet into the air, clouds of thick smoke made it hard for firefighters to see.
The raging fire on Maxine Street destroyed two homes and killed one family’s two cats.
“Very heartbreaking. I don’t know. I can’t talk about it anymore,” Brandy Hewlett cried.
The fire ruined her family’s Valentine’s Day.
“We just cleaning house. My son went out to take the garbage out for us, and he ran back in saying that there was something burning in the garage,” Hewlett explained.
Fire investigators said the fire started from an electrical shortage while Hewlett and her four children were home doing laundry.
“They were just upset and crying — just trying to get them to stop looking at it because they’re just seeing everything that we have just go, just go — it’s just gone,” Hewlett explained.
Hewlett and her husband, Dennis, were set to celebrate their 17th wedding anniversary as the fire spread next door.
“It was bad, you know? Everything went south real quick,” Gregory Robertson said.
Robertson was home alone when the fire broke out. His wife and children were out of town in Kentucky.
“This is actually one of the worst Valentine’s Days I’ve had,” Robertson explained.
As the fire burned on Sunday, Robertson learned his wife was involved in a car accident.
“I got another call saying my wife was upside down in a ditch,” Robertson told WREG.
No one was hurt in the crash or the fire.
“Material things — they can be replaced, but family, you can’t replace family,” Robertson said. “You can’t replace friends, neighbors. You can’t replace people.”
“They’re just things. They’re things,” Hewlett explained. “We have each other. So, that’s what matters.”