After days of sifting through the ashes of a house fire that claimed everything they owned, Galloway family members are trying to stay strong through their faith, while looking toward what the future may hold.

Naomi and her son, Robert Galloway, narrowly escaped a fire that broke out in their home at 728 Worth St. Friday just before 8 p.m. They were both in the living room of the home when Mrs. Galloway heard a crackling sound coming from the kitchen. She looked up and saw a fireball roll across the ceiling. She yelled for Robert to wake up. He got up, called 911, and pulled his mother from the burning house.

“They told us to get out of the house as fast as we could,” recalled Mrs. Galloway Monday afternoon. “It all happened so fast.”

Mrs. Galloway is staying with her son and daughter-in-law, Herman and Mary Galloway at 829 W. Haymore St., while Robert is staying on Worth Street with a family member.

Monday afternoon, brothers Herman and Robert were at the homesite boarding up some windows.

“We are going to rebuild,” Herman said.

The home and all of the contents were lost in the fire. The Galloways did not have any insurance on the home, but they are thankful to be alive.

“Thank the Lord,” Mrs. Galloway said yesterday afternoon as she reflected on the events of Friday night.

The local chapter of the American Red Cross has provided Mrs. Galloway, who is 85-years old, with enough medicine for seven days. She typically gets her refills at the first of the month with her check, but now her medications will run out before that check comes. She said her pharmacist at the Hospital Pharmacy was trying to help all he could.

Right now, she needs clothes, shoes — basically everything. She and her son, Robert, who is 61, are having to start over again.

It’s clear to see that the Galloway family is close-knit and look after their own, but even Mary admitted, it’s a bit overwhelming.

“We would appreciate any help we can get,” Mary Galloway said.

Mount Airy Fire Chief Chip Osborne was teaching Friday night as part of a training exercise, a controlled burn on Edgewood Drive, when the first call came out.

“We were there to strengthen our relationship with Franklin Volunteer Fire Department and other volunteer fire departments around us,” Osborne said.

Osborne said Capt. Chris Fallaw and the firefighters manning Engine 1 were at the controlled burn just to observe when the call for the structure fire at 728 Worth St. came in at 7:44 p.m.

“When they got there and confirmed that it was a working structure fire, obviously we took off,” Osborne said. “Once we got there and I saw what we had with the structure, I took over operations and I told Capt. Fallaw to stay in command.”

The chief said by the time they got to the call, he was told that the victims had gotten out on their own. Firefighters entered the structure within one minute of arrival to not only extinguish the blaze, but to look for anything the victims may have overlooked such as a pet.

“Typically victims of fire are in a panic state, so we try to make sure we check for things they may have missed,” he said. “As we took control of it, we were really trying to find her medicines and oxygen. We knew they were in there, but physically removing the oxygen bottles was a big issue for us.”

The chief said he could tell just by walking around the house that it had been added on to many different times.

“I automatically knew there were two or three different types of roofs on there. That causes a lot of different problems,” Osborne said.

He said the cause of the fire is officially still “undetermined,” but, he said, the fire is not being considered suspicious in any way, adding that the fire started in the kitchen.

As several county departments have battled fires in recent days, Osborne said people need to be extra cautious this time of year, especially when it comes to the way they heat their homes.

“Make sure your wood stoves and chimneys are clean. Don’t leave combustibles around the stoves themselves. It’s nothing more than good housekeeping. For example, you might leave the door open and there’s no reason to, you will get as much heat out of them with the door closed. Just make sure all of your stoves, flue pipes and chimneys are in good working order,” Osborne said.

The chief is proud of the way everyone worked together as a team during the recent fire.

“Everybody worked really well together. I want to thank Franklin for coming and helping us out. Also, there were a couple of guys from Pilot Knob that were there at the controlled burn class that jumped on the rig with them. Our firefighters did a great job, but I expect that out of them. They came through, they are a professional bunch and they did a good job,” Osborne said.

He also thanked Surry County Emergency Services, the Surry County Chapter of the Red Cross, the Mount Airy Rescue Squad and the Mount Airy Police Department for their efforts.

Bannertown Volunteer Fire Department was placed on standby at the Rockford Street station and the Four Way Volunteer Fire Department was placed on standby at the North Main Street station. He wanted to thank those departments for their assistance that night.

Mrs. Galloway wears size 18 clothes and size 9 1/2 wide shoes. Donations can be dropped of at her son’s home where she is living at 829 W. Haymore St.

Contact Mondee Tilley at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.