SOMERSET, Ky. (LEX 18) — Today, one Somerset family is working on a major project ahead of the holiday. Last Wednesday morning around 7:30 a.m., Chris Farmer woke up to a fire that started in his family's home. He immediately went to wake up his family.
"As I went through the house, I figured out that the bathroom was on fire, I went upstairs to get him, and got everybody out of the house,” says Farmer.
Seven of his kids and his wife were inside. Everyone made it out safely. 17-year-old Toby Greshaw says he can’t believe this happened to his family and so close to the holiday.
He says, "It's hard, but I feel like that, I mean, everything happens for a reason — but it's rough but we'll turn it into something better."
This coming January, this family would have been in this home for the last five years. They believe that the fire was started by an electrical spark. But now, they are all working together to rebuild before the holidays.
Farmer says, "It's gonna be 30 by 40. It's gonna have three rooms for the kids, me and my wife a room, and a bathroom, and a living room, just like a regular home."
Farmer and his son are working to build a temporary shelter in the garage behind their home. The family tells me they lost everything — but Pulaski County's community began helping immediately, beginning with a sheriff's deputy who donated shoes to the family. He says it's what anyone would do.
Deputy David Campbell says, "When a tragedy happens of some kind, everybody pulls together, you really see that people are people. It don't matter who you are."
Farmer says the family has seen an outpouring of donations in the last week.
He says, “I mean they keep giving donations, we keep appreciating every bit of it. The local garbage company, they donated some, the art day care, my family, and anybody that's really seen it."
Greshaw says every day is different and comes with a mix of emotions. At the end of each day, he's grateful that no one was hurt and that they have each other to lean on.
He says, "That's all we've been doing. We're just supporting each other and being there for each other and that's what we mainly need right now — is just each other."
The family does also have an online fundraiser they are using to rebuild and to make this holiday together special. That donation link is here:
