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Home | Local + Metro | East Metro

Fire leaves patriarch feeling 'like he's an immigrant again'

David Joles, Star Tribune

A family of 16 has been displaced after the Forest Lake home they were renting burned to the ground a few weeks ago.

An extended family struggles to start over after losing its Forest Lake home and all its possessions in a fire last month. Fifteen members have moved in with a relative in St. Paul.

By ALLIE SHAH, Star Tribune

Last update: February 15, 2009 - 9:39 PM

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It's almost dinner time at Mai Lee Yang's home, and the pho is just about ready.

She's making a large batch of the soup. Enough, it seems, to feed a small army.

In the past few weeks, Yang's household has quadrupled in size with the addition of 15 relatives. Yang's father, Hue Yang, several of his children, their spouses and their children are homeless after the six-bedroom house they rented in Forest Lake burned down last month.

Yang did not have insurance and was renting from his son, who had bought the house but fallen behind in his payments, causing it to be in foreclosure.

Now the Yangs are starting over, staying with relatives in three homes but always congregating at Mai Lee Yang's St. Paul home on weekends.

"My dad says he feels like he's an immigrant again. ... He feels like he's starting everything over," says July (pronounced Julie) Vang. She's one of Hue Yang's daughters-in-law and a student at the University of Minnesota. Her father-in-law, who emigrated from Laos 22 years ago, works for a home cleaning service.

The fire has added to their financial problems, and they're struggling to make ends meet. Several local social service agencies have donated clothing, food and other items to help the family, said Carolyn Latady, the Forest Lake Area School District's family advocate. A fund also has been established at the Mainstreet Bank in Forest Lake.

The city's fire chief, Gary Sigfrinius, said the cause of the fire has not been determined, although the source could be an auxiliary heater.

No looking back

At Mai Lee Yang's three-bedroom house in St. Paul, the living room and basement are covered with mattresses lined up for her guests. The families share one and a half bathrooms, and the pitter-patter of children is constant in the kitchen.

"We're all bunched up, trying to accommodate," Vang said. "Some sleep downstairs, some sleep in the living room. There are two bedrooms that we try to sleep in. We're all crammed in -- we're trying to all fit in."

Vang juggles classes and a part-time job with running many errands to help her husband's family get reestablished. The others in the family are doing the same. Hue Yang's youngest son, Nelson Yang, who is in sixth grade, was back in school the day after the fire.

Some of the grandchildren, who are preschool age, sometimes have nightmares about the fire, said Thomas Yang, 18, one of Hue's sons, who attends Century College in White Bear Lake. They're afraid of space heaters now, he added.

"The little kids, they don't know much, all they know is it was a big fire and they escaped that big fire. But to us ... everything was lost in that big fire," Vang said. "It's really hard on all of us, too."

Vang said she especially misses personal things like her diary and photographs. But when she feels down, she tells herself to be strong and not look back.

"Now, all I can do is think forward, start fresh. It's something I have to do for me and my family too."

From the shower to fire

Thomas Yang discovered the fire on Jan. 27. He was in the shower about 10:30 p.m. when he heard a noise.

He walked out of the bathroom to investigate and headed toward the living room, where he saw flames everywhere. Wearing only his boxer shorts, he ran out into the subzero night.

He went around the outside of the house to a bedroom window on the lower level, where he knew his sister and brother-in-law were sleeping. He started pounding on the window and they woke up. One by one, they escaped through a lower level walkway.

Everyone who was in the house on Ingersoll Avenue made it out.

Allie Shah • 612-673-4488