HENDERSON, Ky. (WFIE) – The Henderson Fire Department responded to a house fire in the 600 block of Fifth Street Monday morning.

According to HFD, firefighters were on site shortly after 9 a.m.

Neighbors in the area report seeing thick clouds of smoke in the air.

“I just saw a lot of smoke, black smoke, sloshing around,” said Monica Dixon, the owner of the house next door.

Dixon says she knew her two neighbors were home at the time and was immediately concerned.

“People were running and trying to get her out of the house,” Dixon recalls.

Luckily for Dixon’s neighbor Debra Armstead, people alerted her before it was too late.

“I just smelled a lot of smoke,” Armstead said. “I didn’t know where it was coming from until someone knocked on my door and told me there was a fire.”

When she got outside, her entire house was in flames, Armstead says. She watched the life she and her uncle had spent years building in that house turn to ash.

“There’s nothing to say,” said Armstead. “I’m at a loss for words.”

Armstead says firefighters told her the fire was likely caused by an electrical problem. She says everything in the house was destroyed.

“It’s burned out, you can see that. It’s completely destroyed. He lost everything,” she said. “Whatever we had in the house is gone, so food, grocery stores, it’s gone.”

Not everything the Armsteads have lost can be replaced. In addition to the burned food, clothes and furniture, hundreds of photos in worn albums were also burned, she says.

“There used to be a brother who lived here and he died. So he lost all his memories and stuff,” she said.

Still, Armstead says there are two things they have to be thankful for: their safety and the generosity of the American Red Cross.

“They helped us when no one else would help us, they did it,” she said.

Armstead says she encourages people to donate to the Red Cross to support the work it does to help people like her family.

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