Woman shares story after returning to home destroyed by fire, 5 pets dead

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Damage inside the North Fort Myers home from the fire (CREDIT: WINK News)

A woman is sharing her story of loss after a fire broke out in her North Fort Myers home and killed five of her pets.

The fire started on Saturday afternoon while Donna Arnold was away. She lost her two dogs, three cats and most of her belongings to the flames.

“There’s no words that you could put it to,” she said. “The only word I can think of is devastation.”

The inside of the home was covered in black soot and ash, with a strong odor of burnt wood lingering throughout the structure.

“I just– I don’t get it. I just don’t get it, and then I went through the storm, of course, and I just got everything fixed. I just got it back to normal,” said Arnold.

Pictures of Arnold’s loved ones (CREDIT: WINK News)

Photographs from her “wall of memories” were all that survived, including pictures of her late son and granddaughters, who have all passed away, and a portrait of her great-granddaughter Sophia.

Arnold said she was able to recover the urns of her late son Chad Arnold and her brother, whom she lost recently this year.

“This is my son that died,” she said of the portraits. “These were drawn from a friend in prison, and that’s why they were so important to me.”

She is currently staying with her daughter until they can figure out how to get her back on her feet.

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