After Sally Hale and Fred Vaughn’s house on Thornton Drive was lost in a fire on July 9, their daughter Sara Hurless took to the Sequim Community Facebook page to ask for help.

Within an hour, she had about 20 people offering their assistance. Within 24 hours, she had 50 people messaging her, and as of late last week had more than 100 messages from across the community.

“It’s been the most overwhelming emotional time for my family and I because we didn’t know how tight and close this community was until this happened,” Hurless said.

She said people the family don’t know have been donating supplies.

“I had no idea how responsive and how quickly and how many people in matter of two days,” Hurless said. “It’s been amazing.”

Hurless said it was a typical Sunday and they were upstairs when they heard a fire alarm go off. Family members thought it was a dead battery because they didn’t smell any smoke or hear anything, she said, adding that they believe it was something electrical related to a heater that started the fire.

“It started in the downstairs area where my room is. I have absolutely nothing left,” she said.

Hurless said that she was able to grab her phone and call 9-1-1, but the house went down in about 10 minutes before anyone got there. After the blaze, the family was left with no phones, wallets or IDs.

The Red Cross gave them $600 and they were able to get a room in Sequim, she said.

“My parents found their identifications the next day and somehow they weren’t destroyed,” she said.

According to Hurless, they hope to rebuild the house eventually, but for now they are going to renovate their garage into a living space.

“We haven’t even been able to go into the house to look through stuff,” Hurless said last week. “I have a foot of water in my bedroom.”

Hale and Vaughn moved from Seattle to Sequim about 10 years ago and opened Vintage Barn Sale. Hurless said she is unsure when they will be able to open again. Hurless’ mother also owned an Etsy shop, but that had to close.

“It’s been her business for the last several years,” Hurless said. “It’s all gone and we know we’re not going to get what things are valued.”

While the family is still taking donations, she said that monetary donations would be most helpful due to only having so much storage space for food.

“When it comes to food and clothes and all that we have a lot of that, but just come on over and say hello,” Hurless said.

To donate, people can drop off supplies at the Vintage Barn Sale located at 300 Thornton Dr., Sequim.

People can also contact Hurless via Facebook or by text (preferred) at 360-536-1456.

Sequim Gazette photo by Megan Rogers / Sarah Hurless said her family members are unsure when they can rebuild the house following a fire earlier this month, but are planning to renovate the garage to be a living space.