BARDSTOWN, Ky. — While most woke up on Easter Sunday to go to mass or spend time with their families, for the Hicks, they woke up to a house in flames.
Jennifer Hicks said it was around 8 a.m. she woke up at her Pottershop Road home and was getting ready for work. Then, she heard the smoke detectors' alarms.
"I ran out. When I got out of my bedroom, all I could see was orange," she said. "The whole front porch was just a ring of fire."
She and her family did make out safely though a few of their dogs were trapped inside. That’s when Hicks said first responders stepped into action.
“When the firefighters got here, I just begged them to get my dog out and they did,” she said with tears rolling down her face. “They went in just like she was a kid and brought her out and saved her life. If you could tell that firefighter oh thank you from the bottom of my heart. For real, that’s my child.”
Hicks said she would love to meet the person who got her fur baby to safety.
Lt. Scott Zachow, with the Bardstown Fire Department is that person.
"Once a 360 was done by myself, I heard a dog barking from the inside of the structure," he said. "We were able to get inside, do a primary search, find the dog and rescue the pup."
When told about Hicks' gratitude for what he'd done, Zachow said, "That just makes me appreciate the job more. I've been doing it for ten years, and I just find new reasons to appreciate the job and love it."
The Hicks family's home is a total loss and Hicks said the family will be spending the next few nights in an RV on their property as they begin to recover items.
She said the fire made things much harder as they were waiting on a property appraisal Monday to get insurance.
"And now it's gone, so we'll just start from the bottom up some how, some way, with God we'll get through it," Hicks said.
Neighbors have been stepping up and helping the family with their various needs which they said means the most to them.
A cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
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