Westfield Mother Thanks Community For Help After Fire Destroys Home

Just weeks after a three alarm fire swept through the home of a Westfield mother and her son the pair have settled into their new home with their 12-year-old cat Buddy, who also safely escaped the flames of the July 9 fire.

“Everything has been really like a miracle,” Deborah Osment told TAP into Westfield. “Everybody was helping me. Just everybody.”

A community rallies together

Single mother Deborah Osmentand and her son lost almost everything they own in the three alarm fire that destroyed their Westfield rental home early Monday morning and now her friends are trying to help get them on their feet.

Osmentand’s friends Susan Cook and Lois Walter have set up a YouCaring.com account to help cover the costs of finding a new place to live, according to TAP into Westfield.

The three-alarm fire broke out in Osmentand’s two and half story home located at 443 Downer Street just before 5 a.m. Monday morning, according to RLS Metro Breaking News.

By 5:32 a.m. the fire was extinguished.

Although the fire caused extensive damage to the home and exterior damage to the house next door, residents from both homes were able to escape safely and without injury.

It was determined that the fire started outside of the 443 Downer St. home. The fire traveled up the house from the vinyl siding all the way to the attic, according to My Central Jersey.