Dartmouth Family ‘Lost Everything’ in Fire

DARTMOUTH — A fire that destroyed a home in Dartmouth last week has displaced 16 people, including nine children and an elderly woman with dementia, as family members say they "lost everything" in the blaze.

Family and friends are rallying to support Christine Bumpus and her family after a fire ripped through their Reed Road home on Friday.

According to Bumpus' niece Nicole Collet of New Bedford, her aunt is "a saint" who "helps everyone."

"They are an amazing family who took in six of the kids to keep them from being in foster care," she wrote in a flier asking for help from the community.

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Collet said that Bumpus is known for taking in people in need, and is the sole caregiver for her 82-year-old mother as well as six of the children.

"My family lost everything, down to their shoes," she said.

Two online fundraisers — a Facebook fundraiser and a GoFundMe — run by Collet and her cousin Brandi Silva have been set up to help support the family with donations of toiletries, food, bedding, and other necessities.

Collet said the family is currently staying at a hotel in Dartmouth.

She noted that all nine children were at school when the fire broke out just after 11 a.m. on Friday. All other family members were safely evacuated with no injuries, including her grandmother, who was carried out by two men who stopped to help.

The family's pets, including three dogs and two birds, were also safely evacuated from the fire and are now staying with other family members, she said.

Dartmouth Fire District 3 Chief Richard Arruda said that fire crews were unable to determine the cause of the blaze.