Mannford family expecting baby loses home, animals, rabbit farm in wildfire

A Mannford family is devastated after their home and rabbit farm is destroyed by the wildfire.

The Plute family is also expecting their second child in September. They say their immediate needs are met and they are grateful for everyone who has been helping them during this time, but it’s still heartbreaking to have lost everything they worked so hard for.

COMING HOME TO DAMAGE

Emma and Brandon Plute weren’t home when the fire happened.

"I saw a rumor of a fire in our area on Facebook and it hadn't been confirmed yet and I was like, we need to go see what's going on, and by the time we got here, the fire was coming down the road and we weren't allowed to come evacuate our animals or anything,” said Emma Plute.

LOSING EVERYTHING

The Plutes lost several animals including two dogs and more than a dozen rabbits they were raising.

They were able to find one of their cats, Handsome, but are still hoping the other two come home.

"I think losing our pets and our family heirlooms has been the hardest part of it,” said Emma Plute.

BUSY TIMES

On top of losing everything in the fire, the Plutes are also expecting a baby later this year.

Something they say they haven’t been able to think about too much.

"I'm not due until September, so I'm trying to just worry about the immediate right now and hopefully we're a little bit better set up by then,” said Emma Plute. “Luckily, we hadn't really started gathering too much for the baby, the only thing we lost for the baby was a crib."

THANKFUL FOR HELP

It’s meant a lot to the Plutes to see all the people who have reached out and offered to help.

"I would say the support that the community has shown, just Mannford and even Sand Springs, that's where we're staying has just been overwhelming,” said Brandon Plute. “People that we don't know that have just seen us around have been very supportive. We've been very thankful and grateful for all of that."

"Really shows you how many people love you and know you and care about you,” said Emma Plute. “We've just been overwhelmed with anything from money to clothes, to people offering to cook us meals."

HELP THE PLUTES

If you are interested in donating to help the Plute family, you can donate to their GoFundMe.