How To Help A Family Who Lost Pets In North Babylon House Fire – Deer Park, NY Patch
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A local woman started a fundraiser to help the family after witnessing their devastating loss earlier this week. Find out how you can help.
By Priscila Korb, Patch Staff
NORTH BABYLON, NY – A Long Island resident recently started a fundraiser on Facebook to help raise money for the family who recently suffered from a devastating house fire this week.
On Tuesday members of the North Babylon Fire Company responded to the Claremont Avenue home at 1:27 p.m. after a report of smoke coming from the house.
No residents were home at the time so firefighters forced entry into the home to find high heat and smoke conditions.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the fire and removed two pets from the home and transported them to a local animal hospital.
According to Ellen Martin Cox, who started the Facebook fundraiser “North Babylon Family Suffers House Fire Tragedy,” she knew exactly how that family felt.
“Back In April of 2005 my family suffered and continues to suffer from a trauma I would never wish on any family or anyone,” she wrote on the page. “That night our house had caught fire causing us to lose absolutely everything including our beloved animals who as anyone knows are like my kids.”
Cox was at the All Pets Animal Hospital in West Babylon when she saw the family come in with a dog, who was being administered oxygen while on a stretcher, along with a cat — both had suffered from smoke inhalation from the fire.
Cox writes that the dog, who was a senior, sadly did not make it due to the amount of smoke inhalation.
“Right away it brought me back to the night of our families house fire and frantically trying to get my animals out and not knowing who was and was not out,” she wrote. “And then receiving the news that nobody wants to ever hear that some of my animals did not make it and being told they did everything they could and I could begin to imagine how this poor family was going through such a horrible and devastating tragedy and still trying to stay strong for one another.”
Cox witnessed one of the family members, a young girl she guessed was about 14 years old, standing barefoot with just a “blank stare and a lost look.”
She says the other family members had the same look and it brought her back to how her and her family felt the night of her house fire.
“Just seeing this family suffering the same way my family did that night was a serious heartbreaking moment and I just knew I had to let them know that there was someone who would understand and feel they’re pain they were suffering and will to come,” Cox writes on the page.
After speaking with the animal hospital staff, she decided to start the fundraiser to help the family raise money for their vet bills.
She is looking to raise a total of $2,000 to help the family. All funds will be sent to All Pets Animal Hospital to go towards the family’s bills.
To read more or to donate, visit the Facebook fundraiser here.
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