‘Family can’t be replaced’: Loris area house fire displaces family ahead of Thanksgiving

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WMBF) – A family in the Loris area must find another place to stay just days before Thanksgiving after a fire broke out at their home on Tuesday morning.

Horry County Fire Rescue crews were called just before 10 a.m. to a house in the area of Highway 917 and Hands Drive in the Finklea community.

The homeowner, Aaron Williams, said he woke up to flames surrounding his bed, but he was able to get out of the home safely.

No one was hurt in the fire, which Williams said, is something he’s thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

“Just thanking God that we’re alive. Everything in the house can be replaced, but my family can’t be replaced,” Aaron Williams said.

Tabatha Williams said she’s grateful her children weren’t there when the fire broke out.

“We’re just so fortunate they stayed with my mom last night when we came home, and thank God they weren’t here,” Tabatha Williams. “I can’t believe this, I’ve lost everything, I’ve lost everything.”

Just hours after the fire, neighbors stepped up to help the family replace some of the belongings that were lost in the fire.

Teresa Simmons was on her way to pick up clothes from her church so that she could distribute them throughout the community. She was stuck in traffic caused by the fire since firefighters had to block lanes while they got the flames under control.

Once she heard about the fire, she made it her mission to get in contact with Williams and his wife so that she could help.

She was able to get the family’s sizes and some clothes in order to help them get by for the time being.

“It’s devastating right here at the holidays, a couple of days before Thanksgiving,” Simmons said. “I want to be able to do what I can to help with that burden. You know, we pray, and we say we love the Lord. We got to love people, and I would do for them what I would want somebody to do for me.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Loris Fire Department helped get the fire under control.

The Red Cross is helping Williams, his wife and four daughters who have been displaced by the fire.

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