Melissa Reeg, 29, has nothing to wear, except the clothes on her back.
Monday, around 2 pm, a fire destroyed her apartment at the Interfaith Homes.
She lived in 1054 B with her four and five year old children. That’s right next door to where the fire started.
Kalamazoo Public Safety said three children were killed inside apartment 1054 A.
Reeg said she had just arrived home before it happened. “I ate lunch, came back out of the kitchen. I heard yelling, screaming, and then I heard glass shattering,” she recalled.
“I stepped outside of my front porch. And it was just smoke pouring outside the front of the house,” Reeg said.
She said she ran back into her apartment, grabbed the fire extinguisher, her wallet and her phone and ran back outside.
“I saw the mom run towards the front door, and I turned around and called 911,” Reed said.
By the time firefighters arrived, flames were pouring out of the apartment. Inside were twin toddlers Tevin Williams Jr. and Ty’nitha Williams, 3, and their one year old sister Tyonna Henderson.
“She’s just a gorgeous baby, just gorgeous. She was a happy little baby. She just, ya know, just precious,” Jacqueline Fullerton, Tyonna’s great-grandmother said.
The young siblings died in the fire. Police said the children were left in the apartment alone. Family members said another child, their four year old sister, managed to run to safety.
While Reeg lost all of her belongings, her heart goes out to the family of the young victims.
“Just how the mother’s feeling right now, the loss of the kids. How everything’s gone be replaced. Four families lost everything yesterday,” Reeg said.
“Especially Driana, the four year old that got out. What’s going to happen to her?”Reeg wondered.
Right now, Reeg and thirteen other people are staying at a hotel thanks to the Red Cross. That’s until Friday.
She said she’s waiting for Interfaith to find her other unit.
In the meantime, displaced residents are in need of basic clothing items and other necesseties. Reeg said she needs bedding, furniture and clothing.
