Mother and 7 children escape Shirley house fire

<p>According to officials, the fire broke out around 6 a.m. at a two-story home on Schenk Drive.</p>

News 12 Staff

Dec 22, 2017, 5:20 PM

Updated 2,489 days ago

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A woman and her seven children escaped a fire that consumed their home in Shirley this morning.
Kim Cetin says she was in the shower at her Schenk Drive home around 6 a.m. when she smelled smoke. Cetin dashed out of the bathroom and saw flames.
“I checked my bedroom and the whole entire bed was all in flames. Like 5 foot – it was going up the ceiling,” she says.
Cetin says her one thought was to get her children, some still sleeping, out of the house. She says she quickly led four of her children outside and then caught her 4-year-old son and 8-year-old son when they jumped from the second-flood landing. Her 17-year-old daughter apparently jumped to safety on her own.
“Two minutes, it took me two minutes to get everyone out,” says Cetin.
Cetin and all seven of her children were rushed by ambulance to Brookhaven Memorial Hospital. Cetin had some minor smoke inhalation but nobody was seriously injured.
Cetin has no idea how the fire started. She's also not sure right now exactly how to put her family's life back together again. But she says she’s grateful this Christmas that her family is together at all.

“I'm just thankful that we're all safe, and I can't be thankful enough for that,” she says.