RANDOLPH TOWNSHIP, Ohio — Raising a 4-year-old daughter, a 3-year-old son, and a 1-and-a-half-year-old son is a lot to handle.
But what's on Kate and Joe Wise's plates is a lot more for them to handle: Their nearly 200-year-old home caught fire this past Saturday — and they're expecting twins in about a week.
"I was in my nesting mode and had everything washed and in the dressers," Kate Wise said. "We actually just had a diaper [party] the Saturday before. It's all gone."
The chief at the Randolph Fire Department told News 5 that no official cause of the fire has been determined.
Joe and Kate recalled how the whole family was inside the home Saturday afternoon when they heard their smoke detectors go off.
News 5 walked with Joe Wise throughout the home and observed much of the damage done on the second floor, including the master bedroom.
"I can still replay when I saw the fire rolling out the back wall — all the smoke — that image ain't going to come out of my head for awhile," Joe Wise said.
Everyone made it out safely. Joe Wise credits his four-year-old daughter with following a fire safety plan that was already put in place.
"She knew to grab your brother and go to the garden," he said. "The proud Dad moment, they listened. My wife grabbed our youngest, and we were all out of the house."
The family plans to move into a rental later this week.
Community rallies behind Wise family ahead of twins' birth
With twins due any day, close friend Beth Arbogast and others quickly jumped in to gather as much as they could to help the family with the transition.
"I would say they need everything," Arbogast said. "Toiletries would be at the top of the list, diaper and wipes, they are costly and they lost a lot of that in the fire."
They are planning a "Fill The Crib" fundraiser at The Barn at Walnut Grove (2129 Randolph Road, Mogadore, 44260) Sunday, March 15, from 12 to 3 p.m.
Additionally, an Amazon Wishlist and GoFundMe have been set up for the family, where you can donate. Click to donate to the GoFundMe here and the Amazon Wishlist here.
"It's truly amazing, we can't thank everybody enough," Kate Wise said.
Clay LePard is the Ashtabula, Geauga and Portage counties reporter at News 5 Cleveland. Follow him on X @ClayLePard, on Facebook ClayLePardTV or email him at Clay.LePard@wews.com.
