Vernon Family Looking To Rebound After Being Displaced By Fire

VERNON, CT — A Vernon family just wants a sense of normalcy back after being displaced by a fire earlier this month.

"Were alive, but it was so scary," Brandy Wilson said of the blaze that wrecked the first floor at 114 Prospect St. in the Rockville section of Vernon.

Wilson, her husband, Scott, and five children aged 2 to a "grown adult," all lived on the first floor of the circa 1900 multi-family home. Firefighters were able to save the other apartments but the first floor was damaged severely, fire officials said.

She had recently posted Christmas images of happy faces on her Facebook page. Then, at 2:55 p.m. two days into the new year, things changed and fire trucks wound up surrounding the house.

"I wasn't home," Wilson said. "The kids were home and they called me to say there was smoke in the house. Then ... the phone went dead. I rushed home. It was so scary."

Fire officials said there was too much damage to allow the family back in. Wilson said she still smells the smoke in her head.

The American Red Cross was also at the scene and provided some provisions and a few hundred dollars to get everyone settled into temporary housing at a Manchester complex. Wilson said she likes the area, particularly Vernon. The teenagers attend Cheney Tech.

What made it worse were a few derogatory comments made by some keyboard cowboys on social media about the section of Rockville in which the house is located. One person called the blaze a "crack house fire," but friends of the tenants quickly fired back that "good families" live there, particularly the Wilsons.

"Shame on them," Brandy Wilson said. "Don't judge because of where live."

Wilson thought about that for a moment then became animated in her own defense.

"We've lived there almost 11 years," she said. "We liked living there. But there was so much damage and my lungs were burning when we went inside to look at it. That house was wonderful, but we just couldn't stay there."

That left Brandy and Scott with the task of finding a new, permanent apartment. She said she has reached out to several area landlords about three dozen or so places with no success. Admittedly, affording the up-front costs is a struggle after losing so much in the fire.

Town social services staffers have been working with her former landlord.

A Go-Fund-Me campaign has been set up to collect contributions that could help with transition expenses. The link can be found here.

"Sometimes, I just don't know what to do," Wilson said. "All we need is a chance. We're not asking for anything free, just a chance. We can pay the rent, but we need to work with a landlord that gives us that chance. We're a good family who just had a bad thing happen. The people in town have been great with food and clothing, but now we've come to this. We need a permanent place to live.

"We'll take suggestions ... any help we can get ... any ideas we can get. We just want to get settled again."