Clay County family loses everything in fire

A community in Clay County is coming together to help a family get back on their feet after they lost everything in a house fire.

Cellphone video that a neighbor took of Alexander Yost’s home showed the home bursting into flames moments after he and his family were able to escape.

“By the time I made it downstairs the entire downstairs was engulfed in smoke,” Yost said.

He was sleeping when he said he thought his alarm on his phone was going off.

“The smoke detector started going off, thought it was my phone and tried to shut off the alarm on my phone, but it wouldn’t shut off,” Yost said.

He then noticed smoke starting to fill the house and woke up his family.

“They could hear the stress in my voice and they knew I wasn’t messing around,” Yost said.

Less than a minute after they made it out, the house went up in flames.

“Thank God my family escaped in time and I know they were told in two more minutes they wouldn’t have made it,” his sister, Austin DeHart, said.

DeHart said she rushed to her family's home after getting a frantic call from her brother.
"To see everything destroyed so quickly, it's just devastating," DeHart said.

Firefighters were on-scene on for about 10 hours working to put out the flames and they were even able to salvage some family photos.

People throughout the community have been dropping off clothes for the family and even gift cards. Yost said their loss has brought the community together.

“I just feel blessed, there’s no other way to put it,” Yost said.

Even though their family was able to make it out, one of their dogs didn’t and they said a firefighter was kind enough to bury him in the backyard.

If you want to help out the family, visit their Gofundme account.  

Cox Media Group