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Kaplan family homeless after house fire

Posted at 4:24 PM, Sep 03, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-04 14:29:30-04

A Kaplan family is homeless after a house fire. It happened Thursday night at 601 E 5th St. No one was home at the time.

“How could this happen? How could you lose everything in one day? How could that happen?” Glenda Johnson said while at a loss for words. Johnson says an electrical wiring problem started the fire.

“I just didn’t want to believe that because you don’t think nothing like that would happen,” Johnson said.

She and her family moved in the home five years ago. Now they’re living in a hotel nearby until they figure out their next step.
“Just until tomorrow,” she said. “After tomorrow, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

While Johnson is dealing with a great loss, her spirit remains strong.

“That’s the blessing part because all of that is material. I can’t get my family back, but I can always get those material things back. I can’t get a family back that’s the hard part,” she says, pointing to her home. “That’s the easy part it’s just furniture.”

An account has been set up for donations at Vermilion Bank in Kaplan under “House Account”  under account number  065204993. Or you can call 337-400-6164.

The family is in need of clothing in the following sizes:
32 in men’s pants
34 in men’s pants size
18 in women pants
2x in women shirts
med and large shirts
size nine in women underwear
32 36 in men underwear