LARGO, Fla. — Days before Christmas, one family’s life went up in flames: Kelli Johnston and her girls barely escaped an electrical fire that destroyed her home.
“You never quite think. I never thought in my wildest imagination that it would happen to my family,” Johnston said.
She was about to fall asleep when her nightmare became a reality.
“So I am dozing off and I hear a knock at my door. A loud knock. She didn’t say anything, but I went to the door and I opened it, and then when I opened it I automatically smelled fire," Johnston said. "I could see smoke at the very top of the doorway.
"And she calmly pointed back at her window and she said, mommy, my bedroom window is on fire."
A fire enveloped her porch and was knocking up against her daughters’ window.
“I grabbed her and I ran her out the front door. And I don’t mean to throw my child, but I threw her by my car," Johnston said. "And I ran back in to grab my oldest daughter who was still asleep in the top bunk. And I just grabbed her from the top and did the same thing to her."
It only took minutes for the whole house to be engulfed in flames.
"I cannot thank God enough, He had our backs. Because if I would have been asleep, or if I would have taken my sleeping pills to go to bed at night, then we wouldn’t be here," Johnston said. "We wouldn’t be alive today."
Johnston is set up in an Airbnb with the few belongings they could save, two suitcases and a few pieces of her daughters' clothes. With everything gone, she reached out for help on Facebook and responses poured in from family, friends, and even strangers.
“(I'm) incredibly grateful that I have all the support from my friends and my family, and complete strangers to be totally honest with you," Johnston said. "I’ve had people reaching out to me, offering us a Christmas tree. And I couldn’t say yes.
"You know, the space is tiny right now, and I’d have 50 Christmas trees in here."
With a GoFundMe set up and strangers offering to send gifts for the girls, Johnston knows she’ll continue on.
“I have two little girls that need to see that I’m not going to quit. I’m not going to be weak," Johnston said. "I am going to make sure that they know when you do get knocked off the horse, you get right back on it."
She and her daughters will be celebrating Christmas at her mother's in Lutz. The girls spent the day with their grandma picking out a Christmas tree and decorating.
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