It was a fast burning fire Wednesday morning on Lakefront Ave in East Cleveland.
Firefighters originally thought 3 kids were inside. Thankfully,they were wrong.
Turns out the Perkins family was not home.
Alfred Perkins grew up in the home, it's been in his family for generations.
It’s where he and his wife Jamera were raising their 3 kids, 13-year-old Aniya, 11 year-old Javion and 2-year-old Jamir.
The kids were at school Wednesday morning, Alfred and Jamera were at work when they got the call that their house was on fire.
They lost everything and have no home owners insurance.
"Christmas presents, all our clothes except what we have on our backs. Everything we owned. What we have on is all we have left," Alfred said.
That’s why, after East Cleveland Firefighter Tom Buth helped put out the fire, he immediately made this plea on Facebook.
"We're going to need to see if we can get some support for them," Buth said from the East Cleveland Fire Department’s facebook page.
He called for new clothes and even posted the sizes for the family he had just met.
"He's a great guy. That guy gave me a hug that felt like I was his child. That hug was great," Alfred told Channel 3 News.
But the Perkins didn't know about Buth’s public plea, until we handed them a cell phone and showed them.
"That was nice. Wow. Thank you," Albert said.
Jamera noticed, “He was kinda tearin’ up a little bit. Like he felt our pain”.
Maybe because Buth and so many other firefighters are also fathers first.
"He gave us hope. He really did. He gave us a lot of hope," Jamera said with gratitude as well.
And it turns out it was still a perfect day to be able to celebrate Jamir’s 2nd birthday.
When he blew out his candles, today, it was really a celebration of all of their birthday's still to come.
“We lost everything but we still have each other and that is all that matters at the end of the day," Jamera said.
East Cleveland firefighters were asking for anyone who could volunteer a drop off point for new clothes for the Perkins, Channel 3 is more than happy to help.
You can drop off *NEW* clothes for the Perkins family can be dropped or at the WKYC Studios on Lakeside Avenue or at Mario's Barbershop in Parma through Jan. 19.
WKYC Channel 3
1333 Lakeside Ave.
Cleveland,Ohio
*Donations can be made between the hours of 8 AM and midnight.
Mario’s Barbershop
7526 Broadview Rd
Parma, Ohio 44134
1-216-520-1977
Sizes for the Perkins Family are listed below:
East Cleveland Fire Department is asking that no calls or donation be made at the station.