Fayetteville Family Has Rough Start On Thanksgiving Holiday

The holidays got off to a rough start for John and Vontella Fletcher. Their house caught on fire Thursday morning, leaving them and their eight children without a place to call home.

Vontella Fletcher was fixing her Thanksgiving stuffing when she noticed something did not smell right.

"I was standing at the kitchen counter, chopping up vegetables to go with my dressing, and I had some clothes in the dryer when I started smelling something so I asked my 18-year-old to check the clothes in the dryer," she says. "When she went in there, she could see smoke coming out from her bedroom door."

When her husband opened the door, the bedroom was already on fire. Four fire departments sent trucks. They got the fire out, but not before it destroyed the house.

Even though they do not have a home, Vontella still found something to be thankful for on this holiday.

"I'm very thankful my children got out alive," she says.

Investigators think an electrical short started the fire.