'You don't understand until it's your family.' West Jordan family picking up the pieces after fire

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The Perez family in West Jordan is recovering after a fire destroyed their home.
The fire killed their two dogs and left their belongings charred and unlivable.
A GoFundMe has been set up to assist them as they seek community support.

WEST JORDAN — A West Jordan family is picking up the pieces after their house burned down last week in a fire that killed their two beloved dogs.

Monday night, the Perez family showed KSL-TV the heartbreaking damage as they grapple with what comes next. While they are grateful to have escaped unharmed and are deeply touched by the support from friends and family, the reality is hard to face — the house they called home for three years is now unlivable, and nearly everything they own lies charred inside.

"That spot, right there where there is nothing," Sierra Perez said softly, pointing to a bare patch in the rubble, "that's where our dog was found."

Sierra scrolled through pictures. "This is where the kitchen fell," she said.

She recalled the terrifying moment she pulled into her neighborhood last Wednesday to find her house engulfed in flames. Desperate to save her dogs Dobby and JuJu, she rushed to the door.

"I unlocked the door and opened it and there was fire in the front room. I yelled for my dogs," Perez said. But her calls went unanswered — Dobby and JuJu never made it out.

"You don't understand until it's your family," she told KSL-TV.

The damage inside their home is overwhelming. The floor collapsed from the heat of the fire, the kitchen is blackened and unrecognizable, and the children's bedroom is buried under layers of insulation that fell when the attic caved in.

Rebuilding their life from these ashes is a daunting task.

"Everything we had is gone," Perez said. "If not from the fire, (from) the smoke — and if it wasn't smoke that destroyed it, the water did."

Now, the family is searching for a new place to live. They have renters' insurance, but the road to recovery feels steep. They're hopeful, leaning on their community for support, and welcoming any help to get back on their feet.

A GoFundMe* has been set up to assist the Perez family.

*KSL.com does not assure that the money deposited to the account will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit to the account, you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.

Photos

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.