A family in New Britain has been displaced from their home after two decades of living there. They also lost a pet. How? An intense, overnight fire is to blame.
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. —
A New Britain family has been displaced from their longtime home on Austin Street after a devastating fire.
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, members of the Sandoval family were sleeping in their home of 20 years before being awakened prematurely by flames. Tatiana Sandoval says it all happened in the blink of an eye.
“As it was happening I kept saying, ‘I’m like in a nightmare, I just want to wake up,'” said Tatiana. “I just could not believe it. I’m experiencing what I hear all the time of people saying, ‘I never thought it would happen to me.'”
Fortunately for the Sandoval family, everyone was able to get out safely. However, an important piece of their life was missing.
“We managed to all get out, thank God, except for one of my three dogs,” said Tatiana. “We couldn’t find him, he didn’t make it. I think that’s one of the toughest things because material stuff we can get again, but it’s like they become family.”
Even as the flames ravaged through the house, Tatiana says the aftermath still came as a shock.
“We were in our neighbor's house. She held us in there, thank God. But, I didn’t think it was going to be this bad. When we came out, it was nothing left,” said Tatiana.
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The neighbor who helped them, Robin Packard, also has severe damage to her car and home.
“Well, I didn’t realize that my car was melting,” said Packard. “I hopped inside it to get it out of the direct danger but not realizing that the fire had already damaged it.”
In all her 18 years in the neighborhood, Packard has never seen anything like this before.
“This end of Austin Street, nothing happens,” said Packard. “It’s quiet, it’s wonderful. This was totally out of a movie scene.”
What’s next? That's the question that the family is asking themselves now.
“We don’t have too much family here, so we want to figure out where we can go now,” said Packard. “Hotel for a little bit, but that’s not forever.”
This fire is the second one to happen on Austin Street in recent years. Last March, a two-story home was destroyed several houses down. Nobody was in the house, as it was abandoned when the fire occurred.
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Jamel Johnson is a Multi-Skilled Journalist for FOX61 News. He can be reached at jjohnson@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and Instagram.
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