A Weldon family will begin rebuilding after fire destroyed their home on 208 Bush Court.

The Weldon Fire Department dispatched the American Red Cross to the scene to help Sarah Cushing and her fiancé, Michael Mead, with their temporary needs.

Cushing said it appears the fire started when one of her children put something in the fireplace and then carried it to their room while she slept and her fiancé was in the bathroom.

The next thing she knew the children, boys aged 2 and 3, were telling them their room was on fire. The family immediately got out of the house and no one was injured.

A firefighter walks past the bedroom area.

Cushing, who had firefighters retrieve a small urn containing her father’s ashes, said just about all their belongings were destroyed in the fire, either by the fire itself or smoke and water damage. “I’ve got a lot of stuff of his I don’t know if it is salvageable,” she said of her father’s things.

Cushing said the family moved to the neighborhood off Reagan Drive, which is just off Aurelian Springs Road, in January. “One of my worst fears was that fireplace. I feared I was going to wake up one morning and my house would be on fire.”

The new bunk beds the family bought for the boys were destroyed and Cushing said the boys need clothes, sizes 3T and 4T and children’s shoes sized 9 and 10.

Front view of the house.

Mead has family in the neighborhood and one neighbor already helped Cushing with some clothes to wear.

Weldon Fire Chief Rusty Bolt said the fire department received the call just before 9:15 this morning and arrived to see flames and smoke shooting from the side window where the boys’ bedroom was located.

Bolt knocked down the fire from outside and, with assistance from the Halifax Fire Department, did an interior attack. It took an hour to get the fire completely under control and work on hotspots, which were fueled by spray in insulation, which retains heat, Bolt said.

Bolt said the fire is not deemed suspicious. “The room was too badly burned to tell exactly where it started.”

Anyone who wants to help Cushing and her family may do so by calling her at 919-633-5482.