BUTTE - A father and his three children have lost their home.
A tragic fire claimed Ed’s house along with everything in it just before Christmas.
According to his sister Kim Martinez, Ed had taken his three kids to grab lunch at Subway. When they returned, the house was engulfed in flames.
"That was one thing, he just kept saying over and over is ‘how did my house catch on fire, I don’t understand?’" said Martinez.
It’s believed the fire started in the basement and worked its way up to the attic. Nothing is salvageable.
He was able to save the family’s two dogs trapped inside, but the family watched the house burn along with the remaining pets he was unable to save in time.
It took the fire department over two hours to put out the fire.
"He’s had a really hard year and a half so it was just completely devastating something else would happen," said Martinez.
Martinez started a GoFundMe account to ask the community for help.
"We have a really tight family, but I don’t know how to help someone rebuild their entire life without relying on community and I’ve lived all over the country and Butte is such an amazing community and I’ve never lived anywhere like Butte," said Martinez.
Martinez hopes that the community can help her brother and his family move forward after a traumatic event.
"And I just knew that if there ever was a community to step up, it would be the people of Butte," said Martinez.
Firefighters are still looking into what caused the fire.
The Blend in Uptown Butte will be donating a portion of their profit and tips to help the family out. They are also holding a raffle to raise money as well. Each raffle ticket costs $20.
