OCEAN CITY — Lenora Miller smiled through her tears at the scene of her mother’s burning home Thursday afternoon.
The firefighters returned her brother’s cremated remains to the family.
“Even his flower was on top,” Miller said of the white rose on the box.
The family and friends of the five people who lived in the house on Stewart Circle in Ocean City gathered outside to comfort each other and watch firefighters extinguish the blaze.
View a photo gallery from the scene of the fire >>
Watch a video of the scene. >>
View an Ocean City-Wright photo gallery from earlier in the fire. >>
No one was hurt, but the white brick house ended being a total loss, said Capt. Ryan Christen, public information officer for the Ocean City-Wright Fire Department.
Firefighters could see the smoke from the fire as they approached the home shortly after 1:46 p.m., Christen said. Flames were coming from the right side of the house and had started to warp the siding of the home next door.
Seven people were inside when the fire started, said Frankie Collier, who owns the house. She was decorating her living room when she noticed smoke coming from the laundry room. They tried to put out the fire themselves.
“It was bigger than we could (manage),” Collier said.
In the rush to get everyone out, a toy poodle, Chanel, was left behind and died in the fire.
“The whole neighborhood knew her,” Collier said of Chanel.
Collier didn’t know what her family would do now. Everything was in her home of 23 years.
“We don’t have anything now,” she said through tears.
The cause of the fire is under investigation, Christen said.