Lake Worth fire leaves family homeless and pets dead

LAKE WORTH, Fla. - Shortly before 9:00 p.m. Saturday, a fire raged downstairs in Lisa Poplardo's Lake Worth home.

"She got a call from one of the neighbors that the house was on fire. She came home and the whole house was engulfed in flames," said Mike Marzigliano, Lisa's brother.

She's been renting the home for a little less than a year, and shares it with her two daughters. All that's left following the blaze, are a few family portraits, and smoke stained clothing.

"Everything is a complete loss. All the furniture, all the keepsakes, everything. It's just gone," said Marzigliano. The charred and melted remains of a ceiling fan are the only indications of the cause of the blaze that leaves three women homeless and multiple family pets dead.

"She had several animals, three dogs and nine cats, all perished unfortunately," said Marzigliano.

The Red Cross provided the Poplardo's a hotel for the night, but shortly after 7:00 a.m Sunday morning, tragedy once again strikes. "That hotel was evacuated for a fire there. She went from a fire at her house to a fire at a hotel, and now she's got nowhere," said Marzigliano. "They lost everything. They're the nicest people you ever wanted to meet," said Bari Shels, Lisa's close friend.

The Red Cross is putting the family up for another two nights. After that, their future is uncertain. The house and all their belongings, vanished in a puff of smoke.