Newlywed couple lose everything in house fire

DETROIT - Denise and Jermaine Williams have four young children and days after saying "I Do," have little left besides the clothes on their back.

Now they are saying they don't know what to do, huddled inside the Corktown Inn Tuesday, where this Detroit family is calling their temporary home.

"My biggest worry is I don't want to be on the street with my kids," said Denise Williams. "All they keep saying is that they want to go home. And I told them we can't go back there."

The couple says Saturday night was perfect. They read their vows at a family member's house and the next day celebrated their daughter's third birthday inside their apartment on Benton Street.

Just after 9 p.m. that night an electrical fire which started inside their children's bedroom.

"It just came out the socket," said Jermaine Williams. "The fire went from there."

"I pushed them to get them out of the house," said Denise. "And the room was blazing."

Clothing, beds, electronics, toys were all burned.

"It was just black smoke everywhere," Denise said. "Water everywhere the ceiling started falling in. We lost a whole lifetime of stuff in there."

The Red Cross is helping the Williams family with a place to stay since Sunday night, although Denise Williams says that offer is expiring Tuesday.

She says Brewster Homes is working to find her family another unit.

"We don't have anywhere to go," Denise said.

Denise and Jermaine are hoping to stay with other family members to slowly pick up the pieces and replace what they've lost.

"It's a sad situation," Jermaine said. "But at the same time God is good. We got them all out of there."

The folks with Cork Town Inn are working with the Red Cross and have offered the Williams family to stay another night free of charge.

Viewers can donate under the name Denise Bassett at any Metro Detroit Chase Bank.