PETERSBURG, Va. (WTVR) - A Petersburg mother waking up to make a pot of coffee early Monday morning saved her family from a fire.
Barbara Tucker says she was walking down the hallway when she spotted smoke and flames around 7 a.m.
That's when she started yelling for her family, including her daughter's three-and half-year-old son and her 92-year-old father-in-law, to get out of the house.
"And I was screaming for my son and my husband and my daughter and her son to get out," Tucker said.
Seven family members made their way out front door to the driveway, where they saw flames shooting up the side of the house.
"I think she's a hero, because she woke everybody up," Lakeshia Tucker, who escaped the flames, said.
Petersburg firefighters, who arrived a few minutes after the family escaped, found the blaze had spread to a middle bedroom and into the attic.
Fire crews were able to put out the blaze, but ran into some difficulty pulling clothes and boxes out of the attic to make sure the fire was totally extinguished.
"We came and started our investigation this morning and we saw, this trash was remains of a trash can," Petersburg Deputy Fire Marshal Jeff Fleming said. "This is the highest char right here, this basically is where it started at."
Family members say they feel blessed no one was injured and everyone escaped unharmed.
Southside Chapter of the American Red Cross are helping the family with food and clothes.
