Rehoboth woman loses everything in fire

Three days before Christmas, Lisa Ramsey lost everything.

An electrical fire started at 1:30 a.m. Dec. 22 and burned all her belongings in her Colonial East home, a neighborhood that sits behind Panera on Route 1.

Ramsey, 41, was sleeping when she said she woke up to a funny odor. She opened the door to a spare room where she kept books, a desk and other belongings, and found the room in flames. The fire alarm went off, and Ramsey started looking for her 3-year-old cat, Kari-Ann.

When firefighters arrived, they made her leave the home, but Ramsey could only think about finding her cat.

“I remember screaming at someone to find her. At the time, that's all I could think about,” she said. “She was the best cat.”

A stray, Kari-Ann found Ramsey when she needed her most. Ramsey had just lost her cat, Phoebe, and Kari-Ann filled the hole left by Phoebe's passing. “That cat was my support system,” Ramsey said.

For now, Ramsey is staying with her aunt while her house remains unlivable. Even when it is fixed up, she said, she is not sure she'll want to return to all the memories that went up in flames the night of the fire.

A Gofundme site has been created to help Ramsey replace the items that she can.

“I didn't realize how much I lost, because you take many things for granted,” she said.

The Gofundme site can be reached at gofundme.com/f/help-lisa-ramsey-home-lost-in-fire.