Hi, my name is Julian Villarreal. My mom, Lisa, and I were renting the 3rd floor of this old Victorian house built in the 1880s in Lynn, MA. I smelled smoke, so I went to check the back of the house and saw a large fire coming out from the downstairs kitchen window. I ran back upstairs to tell my mom we needed to get out of the house now. By then, the fire had spread so quickly the house was already filled with black smoke. We couldn’t go out the back because the back porch was already engulfed. We had to go out the front, which is down three stories of steep, narrow stairs. My mom had just gotten out of the shower and had a towel in her hand. I held on to one end, and she held onto the other so we wouldn’t lose each other in the black smoke. I guided us down the stairs with the wall next to us on fire. I couldn’t see anything because of the smoke. We made it out just in time; a few seconds later, and we would have been stuck in the hallway. We ran down the driveway with glass falling on us to a neighbor’s house and waited for the fire department. That’s when I remembered my cat, Mr. Kitty, was still in the house. He was 18 years old and never made it out.

We learned later that the fire spread so quickly because of how they built back in those days with huge gaps between the floors and walls.

We went back a few days later to see if anything was recoverable, but everything was just gone. We are now staying in a motel, and it is eating up the little money we have left. We have been looking hard for a new apartment but are going to need help for 1st, last, and security deposit and also with beds Any amount would help us right now. Thank you.