Ohatchee family loses everything including four pets in Christmas Eve house fire
TAKE A LOOK AT THESE PICTURES ON YOUR SCREEN. THIS IS WHAT AN OHATCHEE WOMAN SAW WHEN SHE PULLED UP IN HER DRIVEWAY ON CHRISTMAS EVE. SHE AND HER FAMILY ARE NOW LEFT WITH NOTHING AFTER THAT BLAZING FIRE. GOOD EVENING AND THANKS FOR JOINING US AT TEN. I’M SHERI FALK. I’M GUY RAWLINGS. UNFORTUNATELY, THE FIRE ALSO CLAIMED THE LIVES OF THAT WOMAN. THAT WOMAN’S FOUR PETS. WVTM13’S ERIN LEWELLEN SAT DOWN WITH THE WOMAN WHO SAYS THE DAYS SINCE HAVE BEEN DIFFICULT WITHOUT HER FUR BABIES. MY HEART DROPPED. HAS FELT LIKE A NIGHTMARE. LIKE A DREAM. IT DOESN’T FEEL REAL. EVERYTHING. STACEY ODOM AND HER HUSBAND WORKED FOR BURNED IN A BLAZING HOUSE FIRE JUST DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS. I HAD A SPLIT THOUGHT THAT, WELL, I NEED TO TAKE ALL MY ANIMALS. I NEED TO TAKE EVERYTHING. AND I WAS LIKE, WELL, THAT’S A LITTLE RIDICULOUS. SHE SAYS NOTHING COULD HAVE PREPARED HER FOR THE CALL SHE GOT, TELLING HER THE OHATCHEE HOME SHE MOVED INTO A YEAR AGO WAS ON FIRE. AND I STARTED KIND OF FREAKING OUT, BUT I WAS HOPING IT WAS ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS THAT IT WAS SOMEONE ELSE. MAYBE, LIKE THE BUILDING WAS ON FIRE. LIKE SOMETHING. GOD, PLEASE LET IT BE ANYTHING. ODOM WAS PLANNING TO SPEND CHRISTMAS EVE WITH HER FAMILY IN GARDENDALE, SO SHE’S GRATEFUL SHE AND HER HUMAN FAMILY WEREN’T HOME WHEN THE HOUSE WENT UP IN FLAMES. I SAID, I DON’T CARE ABOUT ANYTHING ELSE. I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU HAVE TO BREAK. BREAK A WINDOW, BREAK A WALL, ANYTHING. RIP IT APART. JUST PLEASE GET MY ANIMALS. HER FUR BABIES. COBALT, OJ AND WAFFLES WERE ALL TAKEN FROM THE ODOM FAMILY. I STRUGGLED TO GET OUT OF THE BED RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THEY MEANT EVERYTHING TO ME. THEY ANIMALS HELPED ME DURING LIKE MY DARKEST TIMES. BUT FOR STACEY, MOCHI WAS THE TOUGHEST LOSS. I HAD TO DECIDE WHETHER I WANTED TO BE SELFISH OR I WANTED TO PUT HER DOWN. SO I HAD TO CHOOSE TO EUTHANIZE BECAUSE I COULDN’T DO THAT. SO I SAID GOODBYE TO HER. ODOM, HER HUSBAND, AND THEIR THREE KIDS WERE ONLY LEFT WITH THE CLOTHES THEY HAD ON THEIR BACKS. IN THESE THREE BIBLES. AS SHE GRIEVED DURING THE CHRISTMAS SEASON. ODOM SAYS HER HEART WAS WORN BY THE GENEROSITY OF OTHERS, WHO STEPPED UP TO MAKE SURE HER FAMILY COULD STILL FEEL THE JOY OF THE HOLIDAY SEASON. I TRY TO THINK ABOUT. LIKE, AN HOUR AT A TIME RIGHT NOW, MENTALLY, I’M THANKFUL TO BE HERE AND I’VE GOT SUCH WONDERFUL PEOPLE. IT BREAKS YOUR HEART. THE CAUSE OF THE FIRE IS STILL BEING INVESTIGATED. THEY HAVE SET UP
Ohatchee family loses everything including four pets in Christmas Eve house fire
Updated: 3:20 AM CST Dec 27, 2024
An Ohatchee woman and her family are left with nothing after a blazing fire. It happened on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, the fire also claimed the lives of the family's four pets.Odom was planning to spend Christmas Eve with her family in Gardendale, so she’s grateful she and her human family weren’t home when the house went up in flames. Her fur babies Cobalt, O.J. and Waffles died in the fire, but Odom tells WVTM 13 that putting her dog Mochi down because of her injuries from the blaze was the toughest loss.Odom, her husband and their three kids were only left with the clothes they had on their backs and three Bibles. During the grief she feels, Odom said her heart was warmed by the generosity of others who stepped up to make sure her family could still feel the joy of the holiday season.“For everybody to come together really late on Christmas Eve and find presents and clothing from stores that were closed in less than three hours,” she said. “Everything was filled. They had stockings. They had presents. They had name brand stuff that I had never even heard of and stuff that I could never afford in my entire life. woke up actually having Christmas and having clothes—more than what was on their backs.”The cause of the fire is still being investigated. The family set up a GoFundMe to help with the cost of rebuilding.
An Ohatchee woman and her family are left with nothing after a blazing fire. It happened on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, the fire also claimed the lives of the family's four pets.
Odom was planning to spend Christmas Eve with her family in Gardendale, so she’s grateful she and her human family weren’t home when the house went up in flames. Her fur babies Cobalt, O.J. and Waffles died in the fire, but Odom tells WVTM 13 that putting her dog Mochi down because of her injuries from the blaze was the toughest loss.
Odom, her husband and their three kids were only left with the clothes they had on their backs and three Bibles. During the grief she feels, Odom said her heart was warmed by the generosity of others who stepped up to make sure her family could still feel the joy of the holiday season.
“For everybody to come together really late on Christmas Eve and find presents and clothing from stores that were closed in less than three hours,” she said. “Everything was filled. They had stockings. They had presents. They had name brand stuff that I had never even heard of and stuff that I could never afford in my entire life. [The kids] woke up actually having Christmas and having clothes—more than what was on their backs.”
The cause of the fire is still being investigated. The family set up a GoFundMe to help with the cost of rebuilding.
