A family of 11 is searching for a new place to live after a fire destroyed their Glenn Heights home, just weeks after several family members moved from Atlanta to begin a new chapter in Texas.
Eight children were inside the home when the fire broke out. All but one ran outside.
Desiree Crowley said her 11-year-old nephew, who is autistic and nonverbal, was still inside. The family found him in the smoke-filled living room.
“I could barely see his head. I could only see his T-shirt,” Crowley said.
The children had just returned home from their new school. Crowley said she and her older sister had recently relocated from Atlanta, Georgia, with their eight children to live with their mother, Cia Reece, whom the family calls “Gran Gran.”
“Me and my older sister, it was us and our eight kids. I have four, she has four,” Crowley said.
Reece was at work when she learned about the fire. She rushed back to the home where she had lived for more than a decade and found it destroyed and surrounded by fire trucks.
“I was scared, I didn’t know if anybody was injured or hurt,” Reece said.
Everyone made it out safely, but the family lost bookbags, clothes, pictures and the place they called home.
“I haven’t seen this since after,” Crowley said.
The family has spent the past three nights in a hotel and is now raising money online as they search for another place to live.
“Just something so I could have a refrigerator, a stove, something that, so the kids can have a meal,” Reece said.
“Some type of temporary housing until we can get some type of resources from the community. To be able to actually get a home that we can move into.”
Reece said she is especially worried about her grandchildren, who just days earlier were excited about starting their new lives in Texas.
“The few that are autistic, the first things that they ask, well, can you go in there and get my tablet? Can you go and get the names of their little plushies, their stuffed animals?” Reece said.
This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC DFW. AI tools helped convert the story into a digital article, and an NBC DFW journalist edited it again before publication.
