GEORGETOWN — Georgetown residents T.J. and Marlina Johnson found their world tipped upside down by a late evening house fire last Friday.

    T.J. and their two daughters, Mylie and Rylin, were home and asleep in the living room area while Marlina was at work in Montpelier.

     T.J. awoke to the smell of smoke and stepped outside the home at 315 100 West in Georgetown. Once outside, T.J. could see smoke coming out of the upper story of the home. He ran back in the house, grabbed both girls, ages 4 and 7, and took both to his father’s house a half block away. With no phone, T.J. had his parents call for the fire department while he and his father, Richard, went back to the house.

    Richard and T.J. went in the burning house to try to salvage valuables as they waited for the responding fire department. Both the Georgetown and Bear Lake County fire departments later arrived to try to bring the blaze under control. “We lost most everything, almost all our clothes,” said T.J.

    T.J. explained that when he and his father went back into the house they suffered from smoke inhalation and were hospitalized.

    The fire departments responded pretty quickly, according to T.J., despite his mother having some difficulty getting a call through. As far as a cause, T.J. suspects an electrical problem started the fire.

    “Things are looking up, we are weathering the storm,” said T.J.

    “People have brought us clothes, a lot of clothes and toys for my kids,” T.J. said about the community response. “Everybody’s done what they could.”

    Marlina, who works as a CNA, and the girls are living in a camp trailer at his father’s house temporarily while both girls prepare to start school.  

     Suffering from back troubles, T.J., known to some as Timothy, has not been working and is looking at the prospect of needing back surgery soon. He said he had just come back from an office visit with a surgeon in Pocatello and is waiting to hear from the doctor.

    “I don’t know what else we are going to need,” said T.J. but he did admit that finances are tight with only Marlina working.

    Jori Hitz Johnson, who is T.J.’s sister-in-law living in Soda Springs, started a Facebook post seeking donations for the struggling family. Many offers of help were quickly listed. According to a post by Jori, the family is still needing towels, sheets, women’s clothing and both women’s and men’s shoes.