Community rallies around family after house fire
Jan. 26—When a fire consumed the home of a family of 11 in Crab Orchard in the early hours of Sunday, Jan. 14, Amanda Schmidt and her husband Aaron were away on business in Arizona.
While they were scrambling to get home to their children, who all made it safely out of the house, Amanda said their community of family and friends were able to do the one thing at that moment that distance prevented her and her husband from doing: show up for her family.
"It's overwhelming," Amanda said. "My grandpa taught me — he made people feel seen. He was very intentional with his time, and I learned that from him, and I've always tried to operate that way.
"But to see it from the other end has been amazing. It's just been absolute amazing. It's beautiful to see a community, even people I don't know, reaching out ... with just words of encouragement. It's been wonderful."
At the time of the fire, Amanda said her four eldest children and her eldest son's fiancé were at the Schmidt family home on Glenview Road in Crab Orchard.
Her four younger children were away, spending the night at friends' houses or with their grandmother nearby.
Amanda said it was her eldest son Aaron, 20, who woke up right before the fire alarms in the home went off and made sure that his fiancé and siblings all made it safely outside.
"We had just put a new smoke alarm in the house not just a few days prior, and he was the one that woke up and got everybody else out," she said, adding that he was also the one to call and break the news to Amanda and her husband about what happened.
Amanda and her husband were relieved that everyone had made it out safe, but it was hard not to be able to be there immediately after the fire.
"One of my sons said, 'Mom, if I could have been deaf that day, that would have been the day I chose it.' It was just the worst thing to hear," she said.
"You know, you don't like waking up to those kinds of calls. Those are kind of like worst nightmare calls. Just hearing my children and I couldn't do anything. I felt helpless."
While working to book a flight home from Arizona, Amanda said she called her father in Roanoke, who didn't hesitate to rush to the family's aid.
Amanda said they have also received help from the members of their church, Providence Bible Church.
"It's a tiny little church with a massive heart, and they have just wrapped their arms around us and just loved us in practical ways," she said.
"Like bringing dinners ... and just even organizing stuff for me. I haven't had to think about where do people — if they want to donate clothes or whatever — where does that go to. They just took over that for me. I didn't have to think about it. And just bringing meals so I don't have to think about what to feed my family for the day.
"... They've definitely been the hands and feet of God. I can say that for sure."
Amanda said they have also relied on friends and family to house them while they work on a more permanent living situation.
Not long after the fire, Amanda's eldest son set up a GoFundMe, which has received more than $12,000 in donations. The GoFundMe for the Schmidt family can be found at gofundme.com/f/bbjs8-my-family-get-a-new-home.
Amanda said they've been back to the house, which had been their home for the past 14 years, a few times. She added that while she's still hoping to find her jewelry box that held her wedding rings, the fire left nothing to salvage but memories.
"We had a tiny house compared to some," she said. "There's 11 people living in this little sardine can of a house. We didn't have a lot of storage space. Everything was everywhere, but you were always welcome to come in, pull up a laundry pile, and sit down. Everybody was always welcome in my home. Sitting around the kitchen table and playing cards and talks in the bedroom."
Amanda said starting a new chapter will be hard after what they've experienced, but they do plan to rebuild their home using the funds from the GoFundMe
"I realized the other day, our family will never live in the same house again," she said, adding that she knew it was inevitable with one child engaged and another in college, but that realization still hit her hard.
"I have just a knowing that we're just not all going to be in the same space again and that — it was a hard ending to a chapter, a really hard ending to a chapter."
Despite everything that the fire took from the Schmidt family, Amanda said they were left with what mattered most — their family and community.
"I'm thankful for my community," she said. "I'm thankful to be from West Virginia. I don't think, in other places, there wouldn't be a reaching out. We have such a sense of community here. We help those around us that are in need.
"I'm proud of where I come from, I'm proud of my community and I'm just thankful. I feel extremely blessed."
