DeSoto Family Thanks Firefighters For Saving Their Home, Lives

A DeSoto family that spent Wednesday evening cleaning up after a fire is thanking the firefighters who saved their home and their lives.

The Smith home in the 300 block of Mantlebrook Drive caught fire at about 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.

"I jumped up, ran to the front here and took off running," Rosalind Smith said. "I make it to here, I see the whole house is full of smoke, full of smoke."

Something -- she isn't sure what -- told her to wake up, Smith said.

"I hear an explosion, which came from this way, and I'm screaming and hollering," she said.

Smith said she believes that while so much is lost, God is still inside her home as He was that night.

"Somebody touched us and woke us up," she said. "Without that touch, you know, we wouldn't be here. We are really grateful; really, really grateful."

The interim DeSoto fire marshal believes the fire started outside in the family's pickup truck and traveled through the attic as the family slept.

Firefighters showed up soon after. Smith said she remembers hearing the sound of the door being bust open.

"They grabbed me up, told me, 'Fire, fire!' I'm saying, 'No!' because, in my mind, I'm not believing this is going on," she said.

Two nights later, it still doesn't feel real to Smith.

"I've cried for two days," she said. "This is my home. That's dramatic to me and my family. It's just going to take time, going to take time."

Smith doesn't know who called 911. She has asked her neighbors, but said whoever it was, she thanks that person, also.