By Kim Horner
The Dallas Morning News
Copyright 2006 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS
After entering treatment to battle years of drug addiction, the women at Angels Recovery House did not think life could get much tougher.
But now, fire has destroyed their transitional home and all their possessions.
“We thought we’d been through everything,” said Maylin Eichman, one of nine residents of a Far East Dallas house run by the local nonprofit.
Her housemates are thankful that the 20-year-old woman was still awake to notice the fire about 1:30 a.m. Monday. Everyone awoke in time to escape safely.
The fire, started by an electrical short, caused an estimated $85,000 in damage to the building and $40,000 to its contents, said Lt. Joel Lavender, Dallas Fire-Rescue spokesman.
The women said that although they are traumatized and cannot sleep, they are thankful that they made it out alive. No one was injured, but some of the women were taken to the hospital as a precaution.
House manager Kimberly Wolford said the residents, many of whom have been through long struggles with their addictions, have had trouble making sense of the crisis. One of them, Lynn Smith, had to start over last year after losing her home in New Orleans to flooding from Hurricane Katrina.
“They don’t understand why they’re doing good and it’s taken away from them,” Ms. Wolford said, but she counsels them that sometimes they must pass “treacherous waters” to get to the other side.
The single-family home was the largest of three run by Angels Recovery House. The small, faith-based recovery program — which also serves women fleeing abuse — offers housing, structure, classes and people to talk to about their problems. Residents, who typically stay 18 to 24 months, pay minimal rent as they look for jobs and work toward becoming independent.
For now, the women are sleeping on floors at the agency’s two other houses, which are filled to capacity. Angels Recovery House hopes to open another location this week. Donors have begun to respond with food and clothing, but more is needed.
“We lost everything,” said Ms. Smith, the hurricane evacuee. The women have no clothes, shoes or toiletries and cannot replace family photos and other mementos.
On Tuesday, resident Michelle Wilson wore mismatched tennis shoes several sizes too small. She said she wore maternity pants to the hospital after the fire, even though she is not pregnant, because that was all she could find.
Even though everything she owned has gone up in flames, Ms. Eichman said she’s still better off than she was before beginning treatment for heroin addiction.
Now the disagreements that made it difficult for residents to get along before do not seem to matter, she said. Ms. Eichman said the women have become closer than ever after helping one another escape the fire and seeing their home burn.
“It made us realize what’s important in life,” she said. “We are really fortunate.”