The aftermath of the house fire.

TY TY — When Andres Talavera got off work at Heatcraft Wednesday night, he headed home to Ty Ty, to the Picket Street house where his family has been for nearly two decades.

He headed to his bedroom. His younger brother, Victor, had been in his own bedroom, but he walked in to talk.

“He’s usually sleeping by then, but he happened to walk in and we talked for a while, five, 10 minutes,” said Andres.

That’s where they were when they heard a loud pop and smelled smoke.

They followed the smell back to Victor’s room and the growing fire inside.

“His space heater was just on fire, just a ball of fire,” said Andres. “By that time it had already caught on to his bed.

Andres briefly thought about getting water, trying to put it out.

“It was so quick, it was catching on to the wall. I told him [Victor] we’ve got to go,” he said. “We’ve got to get everybody out of the house.”

The two of them lived with their parents, Andres Sr. and Rosario and their grandmother, Maria Hernandez, who were all asleep on the other side of the house.

“My grandma, she can’t really walk much right now,” said Andres. “She’s using a wheelchair and a walker. I just went in the room and picked her up out of the bed.”

The five of them made it out and watched the fire move to the back of the house.

Tift County Fire/Rescue firefighters battled the blaze. The fire started just after midnight, according to TCFR Chief Joey Fowler.

“We barely made it out,” said Andres. “You could feel the heat. It was catching up to us. We didn’t have time to grab anything.

“We lost everything, man. I still can’t believe it. Everything you work hard to get, you just lose it all in five, 10 minutes.

“If my brother had been asleep like he usually is…I honestly don’t know what would have happened. It would have been way worse.”

“We’ve got to start over from nothing,” said Ivan Talavera, one of Andres’ brothers who wasn’t in the house.

The family made it out alive, but lost most everything: Clothes, shoes, money, even medicine for his grandmother, who recently got out of the hospital after suffering multiple blood clots.

“It’s been a tough two months. [Grandma] was in the hospital last month, almost left us,” said Andres. “Heart problems, kidney problems. But she pulled through. We had just got her back to the house.”

The family is staying with Andres’ oldest brother, Abraham Talavera, in Tifton as they try to figure out where to go from here.

“My oldest brother, Abe, he’s been on top of things,” said Andres. “Brought us in, no hesitation.”

Abraham has set up a GoFundMe account for the family.

“[We’re] asking for donations so that they can temporally find a home where they’re comfortable until they can figure out what’s the next big step,” said Abraham.

“I’m thankful we made it out safe,” said Andres. “Material things can get replaced. We’re just happy to still be together.”

To donate to the Go Fund Me, visit: https://www.gofundme.com/cqhb33-house-fire-fund.

To contact Andres Talavera: 229-272-0300.