Kitchen fire in Port Charlotte displaces family, pets rescued

A Tuesday night turned into a nightmare for Samantha Chekos and her two daughters in Port Charlotte. Firefighters arrived to find light smoke coming from the home. They discovered a dog inside and used pet oxygen masks to provide emergency care, aiding the dog's recovery from smoke inhalation.

"We don't have a home anymore, so it's impacting us a lot. We have no home..." said Samantha Chekos, a displaced resident.

Chekos and her daughters had finished dinner and went out to look for Christmas lights when the fire broke out.

"We cooked dinner, we had tacos. We went to go look for Christmas lights, literally 15 minutes. We were gone 15 to 20 minutes and we came back home and there was a bunch of smoke in the back of the house," said Chekos.

Upon returning, the family found both of their dogs still inside the smoke-filled home.

"We were trying to get her, me and my sister, a whole bunch of neighbor people were going inside trying to get her. We the smoke and everything, we couldn't breathe," said Chekos.

Neighbors came together to help save the pets.

"The neighbors and just everybody came together as a community and we tried to get the dog and you can't see like anything in front of you when a house is up in flames," said Chekos.

Firefighters rescued the dog and rushed both animals to an emergency veterinary clinic. Both pets are now recovering.

The fire department determined the fire started accidentally in the kitchen.

"Just anything that could provide us a roof over our head would be greatly appreciated," said Chekos.

The family is currently staying with friends as they search for a new permanent home. Both dogs are recovering, and no one else was injured in the fire.