Garage fire damages family's N. Aurora home
The smoke alarm woke up the Sornson family of North Aurora at about 3 a.m. Tuesday.
When Frank Sornson ran downstairs, he saw the door into the house from the garage charred black and smoke coming through it.
Frank and Kelly Sornson and their 2- and 5-year-old sons ran across the street to a neighbor's house.
"We looked at the house from across the street and the garage door had opened on its own and the minivan was completely on fire," Kelly Sornson said.
The blaze, which took firefighters about 40 minutes to get under control, caused between $250,000 and $300,000 of damage to the home at 1581 Patterson Ave., said North Aurora Fire Department Lt. Ryan Lambert. The family's two cars were destroyed, and holes had to be cut in the roof to fight the blaze.
No one in the family was injured and firefighters rescued their 10-year-old Maine Coon cat from the home and gave him oxygen.
Fire personnel remained on the scene until about 11 a.m., Lambert said. Fire departments from Aurora, Sugar Grove, Fermilab, Batavia and Elburn assisted at the scene.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, Lambert said. It likely started near the garage, gutting it and the attic. The fire also damaged the master bedroom.
"You can see out the closet from our bedroom to the garage," Kelly said. "It's just a mess."
One side of the green two-story house looks near intact from the outside, while the other is barely standing.
Compounding the family's problems is that Frank was recently laid off from his job.
On Tuesday, the family went through the house to salvage what mementos they could. They are hoping they can still get family photos off the computer, which looks melted.
"It's sad to go in there and see little mementos like the Mother's Day things the kids gave me all ruined," said Kelly, who works for the Indian Prairie School District.
The family expects to be in an extended living apartment soon.
Kelly said they have been touched by the hospitality of their neighbors in the Orchard Estates subdivision. Friends and strangers were dropping by all day with gift cards, clothes and money, some carted over in children's wagons.
"All the ladies here have been over offering to babysit and give us food and clothes," Kelly said. "I don't know what I would do without these neighbors."