Community Rallies Behind Oxford Family Who Lost Their Home In Fire

OXFORD, CT — Firefighters spent 11 hours extinguishing a blaze on Jensen Farm Road in Oxford, according to a Quaker Farms Fire Company Facebook post. The fire was reported at 7:42 p.m. Friday.

When they arrived, firefighters found a fully involved fire across the house, through the roof, with high winds pushing the fire across the house.

"The weather created many extra challenges in fighting the fire both for water supply and equipment, with hose lines and apparatus freezing up in the extremely low temperatures," Quaker Farms Fire Company wrote.

There were no reported injuries in the fire. The family was not home at the time of the fire.

A fundraiser has been started for the Burns family, who lost their home.

Trina Priso is the organizer of the fundraiser and wrote the following: "This evening The Burns Family lost their family home to a devastating fire. Thankfully, they are all safe. They lost everything in their home. The amount of damage was severe as they lost all of their personal possessions. Diana and Rich are a very hard working couple. Diana is a nurse at Yale New Haven Hospital and Rich works for Burns Construction. They have two lovely children; Makenzie (4 y/o) and Connor (18 mo).

"Hopefully we can all come together and help this family in their time of need. Any donation is appreciated."

As of Monday morning, more than $24,000 of the $150,000 goal had been raised.

Rich Burns said he couldn't thank everyone enough for the support. “When your house burns down, you don’t want to go to the store and I didn’t have to. People brought clothes and diapers,” he told WFSB 3-TV.

Burns that the support "means the world. I never want to leave Oxford after something like this."

For more information and to donate, go to the GoFundMe page.

Multiple other fire departments assisted in the emergency including Center and Riverside companies, Seymour, Beacon Falls, Bethany, Southbury, Middlebury, Monroe, and Sandy Hook.