She had moments to get out of her burning home near Bluffton. What she chose to save
If your house was on fire and you could save only one thing, what would it be?
Elena Turner, 35, of Pritchardville had to make that choice Wednesday.
She had moments to decide what to grab. She ran out of her burning home with a box of baby pictures and drawings from her now 17-year-old son and 12-year-old daughter.
Within 90 minutes, her house on Cape Jasmine Street was destroyed.
The family lost most of their possessions in the fire, but they were able to get out in time, and nobody was injured.
“When God throws something at us, … He’s not going to give us something we can’t handle,” said Turner. “I’m most thankful that me and my child got out of the house. We’re alive.”
‘The biggest thing I’ve lost’
The day Turner’s house burned down was supposed to be the first day of her vacation.
She works as the head chef at Jim ‘N Nick’s, the popular BBQ chain off U.S. 278.
Turner was home with her daughter, Larissa. She went grocery shopping, cleaned the house and did laundry. By 1 p.m., she felt like she deserved a nap and went to sleep.
Around 2:15 p.m., her daughter woke her. The house was on fire.
Turner jumped up and saw the back porch was engulfed in flames. She grabbed the baby box and ran outside with her daughter.
“My daughter and I did not have shoes on our feet when we left the house. Our neighbors gave us a pair of shoes,” said Turner. “You don’t think about that kind of stuff when you’re running out from a fire.”
Her parents, who live next door, had called 911 already.
It took the Bluffton Fire District about an hour to put out the flames, but the home was “a total loss,” said spokesperson Randy Hunter.
Firefighters were forced to use a water tanker because of a lack of fire hydrants in the area.
Turner said an investigator told her it was likely an electrical fire.
She is staying with a friend in Columbia while they figure things out. She did not have insurance on the home, which was a rental.
One item that survived: a metal box containing important documents for her family, including her citizenship papers.
Turner was born two hours outside of Moscow and was adopted by a family in Bluffton in 1999.
“I lost my Russian pictures from the orphanage, my letters from Russia. Everything else [is] replaceable.” she said. “That was the biggest thing I’ve lost.”
Still, she said she’s grateful for the outpouring of support she’s received.
“It’s very sweet that everybody’s reaching out,” Turner said. “At a time like this is when you need your community, your friends, your neighbors.”
An online fundraiser was organized to offset the costs of damage from the fire. The link to the fundraiser can be found here.
