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Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009

Reindeer Gang: Mom struggles to keep family going after fire

DeVone Sullivan remembers waking up in the middle of the night. Her children were crying, screaming and coughing.

It was freezing outside in the February air. But inside there was intense heat, smoke and flames.

She had been in the hospital the day before with a bad back. She could barely walk or lift anything. So it was a miracle that she was able to get her seven children out safely.

The fire destroyed many of their belongings, including clothes and furniture. The past 10 months have seen Sullivan and her family displaced, trying to get everything back together.

In February, she and her family lived on Walls Road near Northeast High School. There was an electrical problem at the house, and the power had been cut off, so the landlord brought by some candles that night until the power problem could be resolved the next morning.

“We had gas, so we had heat,’’ Sullivan said. “We were just using the candles to see in the dark.’’

At least one of the candles was still burning after everyone went to bed. Sullivan had taken some pain pills for her back, so she woke up disoriented when she heard her children screaming about the fire.

Sullivan, a single mom, first had to stay in a motel and then moved to a small apartment. The family also lived in public housing and eventually moved back to the house where the fire occurred. They now live in a home in the Village Green neighborhood off Bloomfield Road.

“I wanted to keep my family all under one roof,’’ she said.

She is currently unemployed because of her back condition. But, in the past, she has worked as a housekeeper at North Macon Health Care and the Villas at College Hill.

Three of her children are involved with the Mentors Project of Bibb County.