During the night of March 1, 2023, our lives changed forever. Our older son arrived home from a friend’s house a little past 11:00 pm, and noticed that the lights were flickering and a haze was in the air. Even though no one was upstairs, something told him to check the second floor. He turned the power off to the house, grabbed a flashlight, and went upstairs. There he found smoke and could see the light of a fire coming through the cracks around the attic door. He raced downstairs and woke up my husband Chris, and they were able to leave the house safely, along with our sixteen year old dog.

All night long, the firefighters battled the blaze. Because our house had been built in 1952, there were no modern fire safety features built in as there are in new houses. It was a three alarm fire, with crews from eight different towns fighting the fire. In the end, they were able to save the structure, but between the fire damage, plus the smoke and water damage, the house had to be razed.

The night of the fire, a gentleman whom we’d known for a long time time tapped my husband on the shoulder. It was our good friend Kim’s dad, Charlie Vars. “I do modular homes”, Charlie said, handing Chris his card. “See what your options are, and then call me.”

As the reality of having to suddenly build a new home set in, my husband and I explored a number of options. We quickly realized that a modular home would be a great option for us, and interviewed a number of different companies and builders. In the end, we did just what Charlie said: we called him.

Charlie was able to design a custom floor plan with us, and after many discussions, looking at design catalogs, blueprints, and changes, he finally sent the design off to Tony at Westchester Modular Homes. From there, we video conferenced with Tony to choose our finishes, such as sinks, cabinets, trim, doors, windows, electrical, even choosing the style of the front light outside. Tony was wonderful to work with.

Our house went on the line in the factory the day after Labor Day, and the five “boxes” that eventually would become our house were completed six days later! During that time, my husband and I were able to visit Westchester and take a factory tour. At the end of the tour we were able to see and go into the boxes of our future house! We were overcome with emotion finally being able to see our new home take shape.

The house was set on October 13, 2023, and Charlie and his crew went to work. It was a whirlwind of installations, painting, plumbing, tiling… all the things you’d expect in a new home. But just two months later, we received our certificate of occupancy!!

We are thrilled with our Westchester Modular Home. It’s quite comfortable and our heating costs were very low this winter. I especially love the big windows and the quality of the workmanship in the home.

The time between the fire and when we moved back in was very difficult. We were dealing with the trauma of the fire, as well as being incredibly homesick. As poet Maya Angelou wrote, “The ache for home lives in all of us.” So we were extremely happy to get into our new home just nine months after the fire. We are eternally grateful to Westchester Modular Homes, Tony, and Charlie Vars for helping us to get back to being a family in our own home!