Hernando Co. family loses everything in overnight fire
BROOKSVILLE (FOX 13) - A family of six in Hernando County spent Tuesday trying to figure out what they could salvage after an overnight fire gutted their home, destroying almost everything inside.
Wendy Genberg said her husband was the first to see the fire at about 1:30 a.m. when he got up to go to the bathroom.
"All of a sudden I heard him say, 'oh my God,'" she said. "I ran out of the room thinking he fell and I saw flames falling out of the bathroom."
Genberg and her husband hurried their four children out of the house to safety.
"We're thankful," she told FOX 13. "My husband kind of feels guilty for not saving the house, but I told he saved us, so that's what he needs to worry about."
Hernando County Fire Rescue crews quickly arrived and were able to contain the fire in less than 20 minutes.
It's unclear what sparked the flames, but Genberg said there's an electical panel outside the bathroom that may have somehow caught fire.
Genberg said the hardest part is losing all of her family photographs; they family had taken them all out to re-organize them this week.
"[Those are] memories that I'm losing," she said. "I have them in my head, but I don't have the pictures."
Genberg said the interior of her house is "total chaos," with soot and water everywhere.
She and her family have been trying to figure out whether they can spare any clothes.
"We just started bringing out the girls' clothes because [Wednesday] is the first day of school," she said.
Genberg said this is the second time she has had to deal with a fire; her childhood home also caught fire when she was younger.