Newport mother and daughter lose everything in Christmas Eve house fire

Christmas Eve house fire leaves Newport family starting over

She is grateful her family survived - but distraught. McGraw says the fire started in a bedroom — and thinks the cause was electrical but it is still under investigation.

NEWPORT, Mich. (FOX 2) - A devastating fire has left a family with nothing, in desperate need of help starting over.

It was the morning of Christmas Eve and Mayla McGraw was at work. Her 14-year-old daughter and a family friend were sleeping when the fire started on Crestview Drive in Newport.

"I got a phone call, my house was on fire," said McGraw. "My friend was here, woke my daughter up. She says she didn’t hear the fire alarm or smell the smoke or hear the dog barking, so I’m just grateful he was here to wake her up. If he wasn’t here, it could have been worse."

She is grateful but distraught. McGraw says the fire started in a bedroom — and thinks the cause was electrical but it is still under investigation.

"I was able to get inside - so basically everything, the roof is off in there, and all the soot and all, that (there isn't) anything you can save, it’s destroyed," she said. "Everything, gifts, tree, everything was totally burnt."

So now she’s just waiting on the insurance company.

"I’m staying with different family members so I’m basically bouncing around," she said. "It’s devastating, I mean, thinking about where I’m going to go next and what I’m going to do. We basically don’t have anywhere to go. Like I was saying we're bouncing around, so we don’t have a stable place."

A GoFundMe has been set up for Mayla and her daughter. If you would like to contribute - the link can be found HERE.

"The community, they all pitched in, gave us clothes (and) some monetary gifts," she said. "Everybody here has been wonderful."