For a Jones County family who lost it all Saturday afternoon, they still have everything.
Tracy Morris was on the computer when she started smelling the smoke, running to the kitchen by instinct.
But there was nothing there.
She proceeded through the foyer of her home and laid her eyes on the flames.
“All I can tell you is that the whole wall and couch was on fire,” Morris said.
She was with her 4-year-old son and called for her 18-year-old daughter, who was in her bedroom, as the family exited the house. By the time they got outside, the front of their home of seven years was engulfed.
“I don’t really remember much,” said Morris, whose husband Daniel was at work in Beulaville. “Everything went so fast.”
A blaze ripped through the house at 5954 HWY 58 N, near the Jones-Lenoir County line. Fire Marshal Timmy Pike said five fire units responded to contain the blaze. While the three people inside the house made it out, the pet owners lost a ferret, Cotton.
The cause of the fire is still being investigated.
“We’re not sure exactly what started it yet,” Pike said. “We’re still investigating. … When the fire departments arrived there, (the fire) was pretty much fully evolved. The entire house is gone, its contents and everything.”
Morris said the community has rallied to bring the family clothes, food, blankets and ice. The family of four is living in a shed on the property they bought a few months ago.
“The community has been awesome to us,” she said.
Elizabeth Humphrey, a neighbor, said the family has been to her house for breakfast and showers.
“She didn’t want help,” Humphrey said of Morris. “I said, ‘Tracy, take the help.’ When a fire happens and you’ve got nothing, there’s nothing wrong with taking the help.”
On Saturday, Humphrey said she was about to sit down in her living room when she saw orange streaking through the trees in her yard. She lives across the street and one house down from Morris.
“I could hear the windows busting,” Humphrey said. “It was just bad. After the windows busted, I could see the whole house … was nothing but flames.”
Morris said the fire stole their home in a flash. While only a few days later, the family often sits, staring at the blackened house. The smell of stale smoke still remains on the land.
“I’m still in shock,” Morris said. “People really need to be grateful for what they have. This wasn’t supposed to happen to me, but it did.”
The Morris’ will rebuild the house, which had stood there since 1875. They moved to Eastern North Carolina from Alabama in the early 2000s.
“We moved out here for the county life and we love it,” Morris said.
Although they didn’t know many neighbors before the fire, people continue to show up at their shed door to help.
“I didn’t think people were still that generous or giving, but boy, was I wrong,” Morris said with watering eyes. “This proves our judgment in where we wanted to live. We made a really good decision.”
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@Kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessikaMorgan.