ROBELINE, La. (KALB) - A Robeline family is crediting a smoke detector with saving their lives after a house fire tore through their home in the early morning hours of July 5.
It was around 3 a.m. and Samantha Culberth said she was sound asleep, when she was jolted awake by the sound of a terrified scream.
The scream came from her daughter, and alerted the entire family to a fire spreading from the laundry room.
“She let out, I mean, it was a blood-curdling scream, and then we heard her yell, ‘Fire!’” Culberth said.
Culberth believed a faulty wire sparked the blaze, which quickly engulfed the home she and her family had lived in for nine years. The couple scrambled to get their children out of the home and made it out just in time.
“You have to keep your eyes on each of them, because you’re thinking, did I imagine that I got them all out?” she said. “Even when the fire chief asked us if anyone was still inside, I had to stop, count, and make sure I saw everyone with my own eyes.”
Though the family escaped, they lost nearly everything they owned. Culberth said the emotional toll has been heavy, especially when people say, “things can be replaced.”
“There are things that can’t be replaced,” she said. “Family heirlooms, memories...that stuff you’ll never get back.”
Despite the loss, the Culberths are choosing to focus on what saved them, their smoke detector.
“I feel that in my heart, I really want to get that down,” Culberth said. “If it helps just one person get out of a house fire…because ever since then, that’s all I’ve seen. It breaks my heart to know somebody might not have had that warning. It wasn’t much of a warning, but it was enough to wake us up and get us out.”
The family is currently staying in a hotel. They have started a GoFundMe, organized by Samantha’s brother, and hope to one day rebuild on the same property in Robeline.
The Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal offers free smoke detectors and installation for families in need through its Operation Save-A-Life program. The program works in partnership with local fire departments and aims to reduce fire-related injuries and deaths across the state.
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