A Mount Vernon family is homeless for the holidays after their house burned down early Monday morning.
The Barnes family says they woke up to heavy smoke shortly before 5 a.m. at their South Second Avenue home. Fire officials say the six people who lived in the three-story building all escaped safely.
Officials say flames broke out in the rear of the building and quickly moved up the walls and to the roof. Nearly two dozen firefighters battled the fire for three hours.
Calvin Barnes, 7, who lived on the first floor with his mother and sisters, said the family got out quickly. "I don't have nothing but my clothes and my family," he said. "It's so sad."