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Tuesday, December 25, 2007
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ALL NOT LOST Family knows the most important things survived Thanksgiving fire Staff Writer On Thanksgiving Day, Ramona Harrold and her sons watched all their belongings go up in flames in an apartment building fire in northeast Brainerd.
This Christmas, the single mom is grateful to the kindness of strangers and feels fortunate that her family and those who also lived at the former church building all survived the fire.
"I don't feel what was lost was more important than what was saved," said Harrold.
Harrold, her sons, Sam, 11, and Nathan, 21, and Nathan's fiancee, Kayla Dumbek, had just moved a week before the fire into the former Nazarene Church building on 4th Ave. NE that had been renovated into an apartment building. They had just sold their home in north Brainerd and moved into the building, which was co-owned by Andrew Walsh, a friend of Harrold's.
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Ramona Harrold was hugged by her 11-year-old son, Sam, at their new apartment in Baxter this week. They may not have much anymore in terms of personal possessions, but they have each other. The family, which includes Harrold's adult son and his fiancee, lost all of their belongings in an apartment building fire on Thanksgiving this year.
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Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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She and her son, Sam, shared a bedroom in the former church office while Nathan and Kayla lived upstairs in the large attic. Walsh and a friend, Adam Spindler, who are both deaf, had been living in the basement apartments.
Sam said he and a friend had fun playing with his Army men in the large open space that had been the church sanctuary days before the fire. On Thanksgiving Day the family was only about half unpacked and Harrold had been hanging curtains. Around 12:30 p.m. she smelled smoke, a burning rubber smell. She got Andrew and his girlfriend, Jessica, and using a ladder they searched a space in the peak of the sanctuary where an electric projector had likely been. They couldn't see any smoke but quickly called the Brainerd Fire Department, which arrived at 12:42 p.m.
Nothing was found and the scene was cleared. Uneasy about the situation, Harrold and Walsh decided to take turns staying at the building in case there was a fire. Harrold and her family, along with their Welsh Corgis named Sheltie and Kayla's two cats, went to her mother's home at Arbor Glen in Baxter for Thanksgiving Dinner. They were returning at 3:10 p.m. so Walsh could leave to spend Thanksgiving with his family when they spotted smoke coming from northeast Brainerd. Harrold knew it was their home.
"I told Sam, 'I bet the church is burning,'" said Harrold.
When they arrived home, fire had been coming out of the roof in two spots. Harrold believes the fire started in the attic ceiling where Nathan had been living. Sam had been up there playing video games and heard strange chirping sounds. The building had two roofs which made it difficult for firefighters who battled the blaze because the fire was in that space between the two roofs. The state fire marshal hasn't yet determined the exact cause of the fire.
Walsh was hospitalized for smoke inhalation. About 20 firefighters assisted at the scene.
The Harrolds remained at the fire for about two hours. Sam cried and cried.
"It was pretty traumatic for Sam," said Harrold.
Sam lost all of his toys and belongings in the fire. The sixth-grader normally attends Forestview Middle School but for the past month has been going to school at the Minnesota Learning Center to work on his behavioral issues. His mom said change is difficult for her son.
Neighbors, whom they hadn't met, were kind to the family as the apartment building burned. They brought them clothes and blankets and a young boy, about 8 or 9 years old, brought Sam some of his Matchbox cars. Another young girl gave them a beautiful picture, an Angel of Hope, she drew for the family after she heard that Kayla lost her artwork in the blaze.
Harrold's sister's boyfriend offered the family use of his vacant efficiency apartment, which all four of them lived in for three weeks before they moved into their new apartment in Baxter last Friday. The American Red Cross also helped with food and clothing vouchers for Wal-Mart. Harrold is a nurse at Good Neighbors Home Health Care and a client gave them a love seat, kitchen table and chairs for their new apartment. Another client gave them a television stand while another gave them a Christmas tree and decorations.
Sam's Kinship Partners, Chuck and Miranda Anderson, gave the family a full-sized bed. Kayla's dad also gave them beds. All four are now sharing a small dresser that Harrold purchased. While their new three-bedroom apartment is sparse, it is home. Harrold joked that it was easier to move this time around because they didn't have much to pack.
Harrold said she believes she was meant to be living in that apartment building during the fire. If she hadn't been, she wonders if her friends would have smelled the smoke from their basement apartments and would have gotten out in time.
"I feel God wanted me there for a reason and I think it's because the deaf people in the basement never would have gotten out," said Harrold.
Sam misses many of his toys and some things will take some time to replace. He lost his trombone, which he played in the school band, in the fire, as well as his keyboard and his much-loved stereo. He brought out all the toys he owns from his bedroom, which included about 18 Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars, one or two larger trucks he got from friends and family and a Batman action figure he recently was given at the Kinship Partners Christmas party. He said he likes his new bedroom, even though he was given the smallest of the three bedrooms.
"It had a closet and everything a man could ever want in a small bedroom," said Sam.
In a twist of fate, the family was able to salvage the only item that truly meant the most to them in the fire, an Ibanez electric guitar that had been the prized possession of Harrold's 23-year-old son, Phillip, who committed suicide in 2004. The guitar had been in a case and had to be pried from underneath a melted bed. The guitar strings were heat stressed and it needs to be repaired but is in good shape considering it survived a fire.
"It was a miracle," said Harrold. "That was our miracle that it was saved."
JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.
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