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The morning had been very slow. She woke up annoyed with pink eye, but decided to relax and watch a movie. Nothing felt different. Then suddenly her parents told her and her siblings that they needed to get out of the house, and they needed to do it fast.
On Feb. 14, around noon, disaster struck the Johnson home in Fairview. There was a power surge throughout the town, and their old breaker couldn’t handle it, causing it to blow up, starting a fire in their garage.
“You usually think that in these scenarios you would grab something, you know, but I just ran out of the house,” junior Summer Johnson said.
Johnson had been watching a movie when her mom came into the room and mentioned that the power was out in her room, but it wasn’t out anywhere else in the house. Right after that, both her parents, Emily and Joel, noticed all of the smoke, and told their children, Owen, Summer, and Lucy to get out of the house.
“I didn’t really think much of it until I looked out into the other room, and there was just smoke everywhere,” Johnson said.
They then called the Fairview fire department, who arrived around ten minutes later. Throughout the day, different fire departments came from around the county, but all the Johnson family could do was sit there and watch as their house went up in flames.
“Strangers came and gave us blankets and coats as we’re standing in the street, watching our house burn,” Emily Johnson, Summer’s mom, said.
Although this has been tough for the Johnson family, they have learned from it, and looked for the good in it.
“I feel like it’s kind of been a blessing for us. We lost everything, but we’ve found a few things in the house that it really reminds me of how much stuff doesn’t matter, but the things that you have have memories, and they remind you of things,” Summer Johnson said.
Even through all of this, Summer Johnson has stayed diligent in achieving what she’s worked hard for. She still did junior prom, participated in Miss Fairview, and got a 4.0, all within the three weeks after the fire.
“It was so crazy trying to get everything I needed for the pageant with only a week’s notice, and also try to keep a level head and do it how I wanted,” Summer Johnson said.
Not only is Summer a diligent and hard-working person, but she is also known as being social and kind.
“She really is just the sweetest soul ever to anybody,” junior Cassidy Curtis said.
While this has truly been a heartbreaking experience for the whole family, it has also shown how willing people are to reach out and help. They have gotten support from their local church, Fairview city, and so many people from the community.
“Everyone was helping and still is and still is just offering whenever they can,” Summer Johnson said.
Currently the Johnson family are living in a rental home, and are now planning to tear down their old burned house, and rebuild it. They are very thankful for all the support that they have had.
