SUFFOLK, Va. — Firefighters in Suffolk battled a major blaze in the early hour of Saturday morning.
A house in the city’s Lake Kennedy neighborhood caught fire around 1am.
Linda Ward said she was at home when she smelled smoke and discovered a fire in her kitchen.
“You’d think in most situations, you’d know what to do, until you’re actually in it," Ward said. "At that moment I just couldn’t think. I couldn’t think of what to do except I knew I had to try to put the fire out.”
Ward has lived in Suffolk for nine years. She said she was in bed when the fire started.
“Something just woke me up, I don’t know what, it just woke me up," Ward said. "I jumped because I smelled the smoke and I came down the hallway and there was flames in the kitchen.”
Ward said she sprung into action and tried to put the fire out herself.
“I had a fire extinguisher but it seemed I couldn’t get it open so I could use it and smoke was engulfing the house," she siad.
Overwhelmed by the thick smoke, she woke up her son and a family friend who was also inside the home and they all ran outside and called 911.
The house was quickly engulfed in flames. All that's left now is charred rubble.
“I actually have lost everything," Ward said. "Everything from clothes to food the money that was in the house. Everything is gone.”
The fire was so hot, it melted the side of her neighbor's home and badly damaged the front of her car.
Suffolk Fire & Rescue chief Michael Barakey said fire crews arrived on scene just after 1am and got the fire under control before 2am.
Medics took Ward, her son, and friend to the hospital. Ward said she’s not badly hurt.
“Through it all, God is good because he spared my life," Ward said. "I feel very blessed just being able to stand here and say that, I am blessed. The God I serve is a great God.”
Officials are still working to determine the cause of the fire.