‘Doesn’t seem like reality’: Family mourns loss of their mother

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – There has been 47 deaths due to house fires in Georgia this year, according to the U.S. Fire Administration.

Augusta is high risk when it comes to house fires. Two years ago, Augusta ranked third as the highest city in the nation when it comes to house fires. Last year it ranked ninth.

Virginia Upton lost all of her belongings to a house fire in July on Beman Street. Yesterday, she tragically lost her life while recovering from that fire.

“Especially in her later days, she cared about putting a smile on everybody else’s face,” said Damion Upton, Virginia’s son.

She lost everything she owned.

“High school diplomas, any trophies. She was real big on keeping those types of things. So any kind of documents, anything from our childhood, her childhood, all of those photos and clothes, everything that we had in there, everything was completely gone,” he said.

The electrical fire started in the kitchen. Firefighters found Virginia, who lived in the home, near the front door.

“Everybody’s still trying to figure out exactly, you know, what the next steps are going to be. It really, really doesn’t seem like a reality,” said Damion.

Now, they are trying to make arrangements, but they’re finding it nearly impossible without the right documents.

“So when we went in there and we looked at it, it was just smoke everywhere. So if it wasn’t completely destroyed by the fire, it was completely destroyed by the smoke, so we wasn’t really able to save or salvage anything out of the home,” he said.

You never think it will happen to your family, until it does.

“Take the time to have those those plans in place. Know and discuss those things, you know, with your families. Kind of like we was in school, you had those fire evacuation plans, you need those for the home to have emergency equipment available that you can get to pretty fast if those things happen,” said Damion.

It’s advice he’s hoping keeps other families from the same heartbreak.

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