'The best Christmas ever'
PRESTON — The Buckingham family could use tears of joy and gratitude to put out the flames that consumed their Preston home Dec. 15. An outpouring of support and gifts from people living from Pocatello to Logan Utah has saved their Christmas and left an indelible mark on their lives.
“I think it was the best Christmas ever,” said Brenda Buckingham. “There’s absolutely no way to thank people for what they’ve done.”
The nightmare that led up to this miraculous Christmas started with a hot stove pipe above the wood-burning stove that kept the family’s home at 125 S. 300 West in Preston warm. It ignited insulation as the family slept. Dan and Brenda Buckingham, nine of their 10 children and Brenda’s mother, 69-year-old Olive McCarty, were asleep in the home.
“My wife just happened to open her eyes and saw smoke,” Dan explains.
What happened next can only be described as pandemonium. Two of Brenda’s youngest boys, Ethan and Kytwin, ages three and two, were in bed with her. Her eight-month-old son, Xavier was asleep in his crib at the foot of her bed. According to both Brenda and Dan, she immediately yelled “fire, everybody out!”