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Community rallies around Michigan family after devastating fire

Family hosted fundraiser to support grandparents, mother

A community rallied around a family who lost everything in a fire in Harrisville.

With ties to Metro Detroit, a fundraiser was held Friday in Shelby Township to help them get back on their feet.

“Really hard to wrap our minds around it because we’ve been going to that house since we were little girls. The house isn’t there now and all the memories are gone,” said Corrin Wagner.

The home belonged to Wagner and Courtney Robbins’ grandparents, and their mother Kim was at the house as well to help take care of them. She had to jump out of a window.

“The whole house was filled with smoke,” Robbins said.

READ: Detroit Fire Department report finds 40% of firefighters have witnessed drinking on the job

“There was no way that she (Kim) could walk out. So she said the only thing she was able to really grab was her phone and her puppy. She had to break the window and climb out,” said son-in-law Derrick Jackson.

Wagner and Robbins’ grandmother also suffered serious burns and was on life support for three weeks.

And now they are working to take care of their family.

“We’ve had friends, family members, strangers donate clothes, coffee pots, shoes, coats,” Wagner said.

Wagner organized a GoFundMe account, a donation driver and fundraiser Friday night at Dooley’s Tavern in Shelby Township where she worked with her mother.

“It was really tough to see that and see our family like that. Something in me was like ‘This is what I’m doing,’” she said.

MORE: Local news coverage


About the Author
Jason Colthorp headshot

Jason is Local 4’s utility infielder. In addition to anchoring the morning newscast, he often reports on a variety of stories from the tragic, like the shootings at Michigan State, to the off-beat, like great gas station food.

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