A day typically laced with love and sweet sentiment came to a bitter, unforeseen end for one Greenville woman and mother of seven.
Monique Adams returned to her mother’s home from a Valentine’s Day dinner only to learn that her own home was engulfed in flames.
Greenville Fire Chief Ruben Brown said around 2 a.m. Monday, Feb. 15, three fire units responded to 341 S. Shelby St. and that the first arriving unit reported the home was totally engulfed in flames.
“It took several minutes to bring the fire under control and there were no occupants in the house at the time of the fire,” Brown said.
With it being a total loss, the fire department contacted the American Red Cross and other relief agencies to assist Adams and her family with sheltering needs and others.
Brown added the fire is still under investigation, but it appears to have been started from an electrical issue or space heater.
Crushed and still reeling from the tragic event, Adams could not bring herself to talk about the loss of the home she had made for herself and her children, one of whom being a 3-week-old baby.
She gave Ward 4 Councilwoman Lurann Thomas-Kingdom authorization to speak on her behalf as she is a long-time acquaintance of hers and a close family friend.
Thomas-Kingdom said Adams’ children were with her mother while she was at dinner and when she returned, someone arrived to inform her of the news of her home being on fire.
The ages of Adam’s children range from 17 to 5, apart from her 3-week-old baby.
“She made a call to me at ten minutes after 2 (a.m.), but of course the weather had begun to worsen at that time so there was no way I could reach her,” Thomas-Kingdom said. “She said earlier that day she heard something popping under the house and she heard it again, but she didn’t think much of it. Then, she left to go to her mother’s and just didn’t think about it anymore.”
Adams works as an assistant manager at Krystal’s.
“It’s so heartbreaking you know, to work as hard as she does to take care of her family and to see it all go up in flames was just unexplainable and just so devastating,” Thomas-Kingdom said. “Her uncle, Rev. Ephraim Milton, is a close family friend and so I was privileged for her to ask me to help her put the structure in her life back together again.”
Even though Adams is a part of the Ward 4 community, Thomas-Kingdom asserted that her efforts are not so much as that of a councilwoman, but as a family friend.
She added, “I just wanted to make sure that we do all that we could in terms of trying to help her to regain structure in her life for herself and her children.”
As the loss has left Adams and her children in need of housing, clothes, appliances and food, Thomas-Kingdom is serving as the point of contact for those who may not be able to contribute via the GoFundMe account that has been established.
For those wanting to assist by donating to the cause, The GoFundMe link is gofundme.com/f/ezha4-adams-family-fire-relief-fund.
Councilwoman Lurann Thomas-Kingdom can be contacted at 662-820-6485.
