Bismarck family finds blessing in the ashes after home destroyed by fire

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - For the past few weeks, the Sharp family has been living in a Bismarck hotel.

Their home caught fire January 6, making it unsafe to live there.

The good news: Josh and Meagan Sharp and their three young sons have seen something pretty incredible rise from the ashes.

The hotel pool is the Sharp boys’ new favorite hangout spot.

“I think of the hotel as a house,” said Dax Sharp. At age seven, he’s the youngest of the three Sharp boys.

Right now, the hotel is their house. Fire destroyed their real home nearly three weeks ago.

“We have no roof on about a third of our house. You can see the rafters, and there’s water there,” said Josh.

The pictures of the damage instantly take them back to that day.

“They can just tell us it started in the kitchen,” said Meagan.

Investigators aren’t sure what started the fire. The Sharps are grateful they weren’t home.

“We don’t have the trauma of running out from a fire,” said Meagan as she recalled the events of that day. “We were gone for about an hour and we came home to smoke and the fire trucks on the street and a lot of chaos.”

But in the middle of that chaos, the Sharps immediately saw kindness.

A neighbor they’d never met before, rescued their beloved dog, Mo.

“She heard him bark,” Meagan said.

From there, the blessings have multiplied.

The family’s clothes were spared. Meagan’s supplies for the business she had just purchased were safe.

“They’re totally fine,” Meagan said of the signs she stores for her business, Letter the Lawn.

And despite their losses, and their temporary home, they are determined to see the good.

“There are a lot of blessings. I mean, just so many blessings that are coming out of this,” Meagan said.

Blessings, including the generosity of friends, family and of people they’ve never met. Josh is a teacher and coach in Washburn. A silent auction there raised more than $20,000. Other local businesses and even schools have donated and offered support.

“It’s unbelievable. The just the kindness that we see is very humbling. It’s very humbling,” said Josh.

And it’s a reminder to this family, that even on our worst days, there is always good.

“There are still a lot of good people,” Josh said.

The Sharps are waiting for the fire investigation and the insurance paperwork to be completed. They’re hoping to move out of the hotel soon and into a rental while their home is cleaned and repaired.

If you’d like to help the family, you can donate to this Go Fund Me.

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