Carmichael family's home looted after fire: "How could people do that?"

A duplex fire that spread to a neighboring home has left three families displaced and killed at least five pet cats.

One woman — who did not want to be identified due to privacy concerns after her fire-damaged home was looted — said her husband called her in a panic after hearing a loud noise and discovering a fire at a neighboring duplex on Rye Way. He was able to get their 13-year-old son out of the home, but their pet cat was one of several that did not survive.

"He started screaming there was fire at the neighbor's house," the woman said. "He had to come back to the house, wake up my 13-year-old son, get him out of the house, and the fire started going everywhere."

The family is now dealing with the loss of their belongings and the uncertainty of where they will live. The woman said when they did return home, they found it had apparently been burglarized after the fire.

Although the building had been locked and fenced off, the family believes someone may have entered through the damaged roof.

"I couldn't go in last night. I was in shock. How could people do that? It's terrible," she said.

When they returned to retrieve what they could, they discovered their lockbox had been tampered with and its contents were missing.

The woman estimated the stolen items included about $40,000 worth of jewelry, much of it gold, along with cash.

"Some of them are gifts from my family," she said. "We're Middle Eastern. We believe in 21K gold. That's what we do when saving."

The cause remains under investigation, but fire officials said they do not currently believe it was arson.

With three families displaced, the road to recovery is just beginning.

"I have to start fresh, try to find a house. I'm pretty sure it's going to take forever to rebuild this," the woman said. "So I can't just sit and cry about it. I have to do something.