6:33 p.m.: UPDATE: Alex family 'lost everything'

March 27, 2008 06:34 pm

— ALEXANDRIA — Two women and 10 children left homeless when their mobile home was destroyed by fire last week hope they can raise enough money to stay in an Anderson motel over the weekend to give them more time to find permanent housing.
“Everything,” Susan Banks said of what the Friday night fire consumed. “We lost everything. Everything is a total loss.”
Firefighters were called to the mobile home 31-year-old Banks shared with her cousin, Erica Royse, 27, and their 10 children shortly after 8 p.m. Alexandria Fire Chief Bruce Waters said the fire was set by a 4-year-old boy playing with a lighter in a bedroom. The four-bedroom, single-wide mobile home was a complete loss. Fire officials initially believed 14 people lived in the home.
“I just thank God all the children got out,” Banks said, “because we could have lost one of the children very easily.”
Banks has four children, and Royse has six. The children, seven girls and three boys, range in age from 1 to 12, with all but one under 10. The Madison County Chapter of the American Red Cross has been providing temporary housing for the two groups at an Anderson motel.
“They’ve done a wonderful job of feeding and clothing us,” Banks said. “A gigantic thank-you to the Red Cross.”
But she said Wednesday night was expected to be their last in the motel if they couldn’t come up with more funds. She said they hoped to stay through the weekend, believing that would be enough time to find permanent housing. The families also need housewares, clothing for the kids and furniture. Banks, who was buying the trailer on contract, had lived there for about nine months. Royse and her children joined Banks’ family a few weeks ago. The mobile home was uninsured.
“I was going to go Monday to get the insurance, because we had so many children there,” she said. “We were just four days shy.”
Despite the large number of people living in the mobile home, Banks said the trailer wasn’t crowded. She said the dining room and living room were expanded, giving them the equivalent space of a double-wide trailer.
“It wasn’t really too cramped,” she said.
Waters said the families weren’t in violation of any fire code. If they had been living in an apartment, he said, occupancy likely would have been an issue. He said state fire codes don’t regulate the number of occupants that can live in a single-family home.
“Not in a single-family dwelling,” Waters said. “We can’t control personal property. If it’s an apartment, or business, or something like that, we have jurisdiction. But personal property, we don’t have jurisdiction, as far as the fire side.”
As well, Brandon Clidence, environmental supervisor with the Madison County Health Department, said the large number of people living in the trailer didn’t violate any health codes. Basically, size doesn’t matter, he said.
“It all comes down to the conditions in the home,” Clidence said. “Are they sanitary? We’ve had (a lone person) who couldn’t keep a house in a sanitary condition.”
According to Cory Patton, executive director of the county’s planning commission, the two women and their children — because they’re related — weren’t violating any county ordinances.
Despite the blaze, Banks said she and Royse hope to keep their two broods together, but they’ll need a place to live through the weekend first. Community members have already donated many things — including Easter baskets — but the two women have a lot to replace.
“We’re trying to come up with the money to stay through the weekend so we can find a place,” Banks said. “We’re family.”
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How to help:
Anyone wishing to donate money, clothes or household items to an Alexandria family left homeless by fire, should call Nancy Schildmeier, Susan Banks’ mother-in-law, at (765) 724-3431.

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