Family displaced by fire hopes to be back home soon

The Sornson family started the school year from their home at 1581 Patterson Ave. in North Aurora's Orchard Estates subdivision and it looks like they will end the year at the same address.

Frank and Kelly Sornson and their boys Logan, 5, and Jacob, 2, fled from their home in the middle of the night last September when their house was destroyed by fire. The family hopes to be back in their reconstructed home in mid-May.

Kelly said that the cause of the fire is still being investigated but that the garage itself was ruled out as the cause. The most likely source of the fire was the family van. The vehicle was shipped to a lab for the still unfinished investigation.

Frank lost his job two weeks before the September fire and he started working again in January as a security administrator for the Department of Energy at Argonne National Laboratories in Lemont.

"Between work and the boys we have had to find the time to fill out a 160-page inventory list of all the things we owned before the fire," Kelly explained.

"Right now, not having a cause is slowing down the money," she said.

She said that they must turn in a list of how old the destroyed items were and determine a replacement cost. The family will receive insurance company reimbursement after they submit receipts for the replaced items.

"The house is almost done and we have already put 30 percent down on the furniture and appliances we need to move in," Kelly said.

The insurance company found the family a three bedroom rental home nearby in Orchard Crossings where they have stayed since the fire.

The continuing insurance investigation delayed the reconstruction at first but the contractors have picked up the pace.

The two-story house with the three-car garage will look similar to the original model but with some adaptations and interior changes.

"We tried to get the siding to look the same but it came out darker than the other houses in the neighborhood," Kelly pointed out about the green house.

On the inside, they added a fourth bedroom over the two-story living room in the front of the house. They added half walls between the living and dining rooms and between the family room and dinette in the rear of the house.

"It'll be exciting to move back in," Kelly said. "Even if we never changed anything we would be excited. We want to go back home."

She said that her old neighbors still offer to watch the kids while Frank and Kelly are out furniture shopping for the house.

"We will still have a lot of work to do once we get back in but I'll be out of school all summer and get everything all set up again," said Kelly who is an occupational therapist for Indian Prairie School District in Naperville.

"We are looking for a time to invite all the neighbors over for an open house when we move back in so everyone can see the house," said Kelly, who is thankful for neighbors' help throughout the ordeal.

And Frank misses his garage.

"I want my workshop back. I want to sit in the back yard again," he said. "I miss the quiet."