After fire, mother asks for assistance

By SHELBY SCHROEDER

A Weathersfield woman must start from scratch to rebuild her life.

WEATHERSFIELD — A single mother who lost nearly everything in a fire that destroyed her home is asking for help.

Army veteran Marci Jarome, 28, is trying to move on, but it hasn’t been easy.

After a month of renovating the trailer she purchased in August, a fire during the early hours of Monday took it all away. The fire left only a basket of smoky clothes that was stored in the back of her Lake Park Estates trailer.

“I can’t really say I’m upset; it’s like I don’t feel anything,” Jerome said. “I kind of feel numb about the whole situation.”

The mother of a 7-year-old boy, Jarome has moved from home to home since her tour of Iraq ended in 2003. She finally found a place to call her own when she purchased the trailer early last month.

She said that she and her family put more than $2,000 worth of repairs and cabinet work into the home. And because it was such a recent purchase, Jarome said nothing was insured.

As of 4 a.m. Monday morning, when a fire ripped through the trailer, all of the hard work went undone. The belongings of Jarome and her son, Ethan, were gone.

Photographs, military papers, televisions, furniture and even a washer and dryer are now charred, melted, and unidentifiable. Much exists as ashes beneath the collapsed roof of the home.

Jarome said Ethan hasn’t realized how hard the loss hit the two.

“All he said was, ‘Mom, my Pokemon Cards!’” she said.

Weathersfield Fire Chief Joseph Consiglio said the cause of the blaze is still under investigation by his department and the State Fire Marshal. He estimated Jarome’s lost property at between $8,000 and $10,000.

Now, living with her sister Jenny Peyatt in Girard, Jarome and her son are hoping to find another home soon. Ethan is wearing some of his cousin’s clothing, and his mother is looking for an additional job.

She said she’ll be going back to school for her second academic degree at Trumbull Business College in the spring. But starting from scratch, she said, is going to be a challenge.

“I want to get back on my feet,” Jarome said. “And I’ll take all the help I can get.”

Peyatt has set up a fund under her sister’s name at National City Bank, where donations will be accepted at any branch location.