Expecting family loses everything in house fire, community rallies
WYATT, Ind. -- Justin and Emily Mast were at church Sunday morning with their daughter when they got an alarming notification.
"Just finished with Sunday school when my wife comes and finds me and says our house is on fire," Justin said.
Emily said she got a notification on her phone from her Ring doorbell camera. Three men were pounding on their doors because they noticed the home on Pierce Road in St. Joseph County.
"To this day, we do not know who they were," Justin said.
They hope to find out who they are and thank them for alerting them to the nightmare unfolding.
Justin rushed home from church.
"It's our safe place and all of a sudden it's gone," he said. "And everything in it is gone pretty much."
The house was a total loss.
"You don't realize when there's a fire, everything is gone, even the necessities," he said. "You go to get your toothbrush, 'Oh, we need a new toothbrush.'"
Not to mention they lost all the supplies they had gathered for baby number two on the way.
"I am 27 weeks, so we're due in July," Emily said.
It's a tragic story for any family, especially an expecting one, but they say floodgates of support opened immediately.
"The firetrucks were here and there were tons of people here," she said.
And the support hasn't yet slowed, Emily's brother, a firefighter himself, is organizing a donation drive for all the baby supplies burned in the fire, plus he launched a GoFundMe.
"You don't realize the community that's surrounding you in a catastrophe like this, and we're blessed to have that. I know there are places in this country where people do not get that kind of support," Justin said. "It just opens my eyes to the fact that I want to be that type of person if others run into that same problem."
The Masts said they plan to rebuild their home.
As of Monday, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
More information about the donation drive can be found on the Madison Township Volunteer Fire Department's Facebook Page.