by Jolene Toves

Guam - A family of live left homeless after a fire raged through their home over the weekend. Army veteran George Salas, his wife Serene and their three sons lost everything. Their Piti home of 30 years was consumed by flames in less than an hour.

"According to the fire department, it's probably the trash I was burning that morning because I was actually doing spring cleaning raking up the leaves," Salas explained. He says he thought he extinguished the fire prior to leaving to the store, however, after receiving a phone call from a neighbor he found his home in flames. "I said 'no way, I just left the house ', I just rushed back home and seen my house go up in smoke...nobody was home just our dog but our dog was safe."

Despite their home being gone his wife remains strong saying material things can be replaced. Serene said, "To me it's all the hard work we did for so many years but the only thing that's keeping me and having faith is that our kids and my family is safe."

Guam Fire Department Engines 1 and 7, Medic 5 and Rescue 2 responded to the scene after receiving a call a little after 1pm on Saturday. Since the fire the family has received assistance from the Piti Mayor's Office, the Governor's Office and the American Red Cross.

Chita Blaise, executive director of the Guam chapter of the American Red Cross, said, "We got a notification and so we deployed one of our disaster trained volunteers to the place to conduct an assessment."

The Red Cross has provided the Salas family with some basic necessities, however, with nothing but the clothes on their backs the family is still in need of further assistance. What started off as spring cleaning in a matter of minutes turned to devastation. Leaving Salas and his family homeless and in need of the community's assistance.

If you would like to offer your assistance to this family you can contact them directly at 888-2011 or 888-1941.