DAPHNE, Ala. — On Nov. 6, Tonya Johnson saw her world go up in flames when she returned to her Loxley home at around 11 p.m. to find it burning to the ground. The three girls at home, Tasha, an eighth-grade student at Central Baldwin Middle School and Shelby, a fifth-grade Loxley Elementary School student and Shelby’s friend and the girls’ cousin, Ashley Johnson, were in the house.

Johnson, a widow, and her two daughters, called 68 Steele Lane ‘home.’ It housed their clothes, family heirlooms and memories.

Johnson felt like she had lost everything. But hope — and help — was on the way.

Walter Jay, president of WNSI radio station in Mobile, came across an article about Johnson’s plight in The Independent and was moved by her story. So moved, that he felt he needed to do something. Something big.

“I saw it in the Robertsdale Independent,” Jay said. “I called, talked to Tonya. I knew I had to do something.”

Jay contacted Terry Bell, general manager of Eastern Shore Toyota, a longtime friend, and discussed how they could help the Johnson family.

Bell met with the Eastern Shore Toyota employees and shared Johnson’s tale with them. Enough donations were collected that Bell could give the family a free car.

“Eastern Shore employees paid for the whole thing,” Bell said. “We absolutely wanted to do something to help the family.”

Johnson, her daughters and her mother, Starr Whittington, received the keys to a 2000 Mazda MPV at a ceremony Dec. 2 that was broadcast live on WNSI.

“It’s awesome. Thank you everybody,” Johnson said, holding the keys and wiping away the tears of joy.

Members of the Loxley Volunteer Fire Department were impressed with the girls’ level heads during the fire.

“We were paged out to a structure fire,” said Assistant Fire Chief Robert Wright.

Wright explained to the Town Council that members of the departments that fought the fire, Loxley, Silverhill, Stapleton, and Belle Forest were glad to know the three young women had escaped.

“It touched a lot of us,” said Wright. “Knowing lives were spared makes the job a lot easier.”

Even better, Wright added that fire department members found out that Tasha Johnson, Ashley Johnson and Shelby Johnson used lessons they had learned at various fire prevention programs to escape the fire.

Impressed with the girls’ levelheaded escape, the Loxley Volunteer Fire Department presented them with plaques at the start of the Dec. 8 Loxley Town Council meeting.

“You can replace things,” said Wright. “We are so proud that these three girls used what they learned at school to escape the fire.”

“I’ve had two house fires,” Whittington said. “It was almost like watching history repeat itself. I know how hard it was to replace everything. It’s been hard on me watching them (go through this).”

Whittington believes the house fire started in the kitchen.

“We had cooked a pot roast in a pressure cooker,” she said. “And then, we had gone out. Later, a neighbor called and said, ‘Tonya’s house is on fire!’”

The Johnson family had lived in the house for only a couple of months.

“She had just started to feel at home,” Whittington said.

The Johnsons have also received three months’ free rent at a Loxley trailer while they begin the road to rebuilding their lives.

The Tonya Johnson Assistance Fund — in care of Lake Real Estate Inc. — has been established at Wachovia Bank to help out the displaced family.

Donations can be made at any of the Wachovia Bank branches in the area.

“It’s been an outstanding outpouring of help for this family,” Bell said.

“It just has mushroomed into what it’s doing today.”

“It’s just been a blessing,” Whittington said.

Sasha Heller is staff writer for GCN sister paper The Daphne Bulletin. Independent Staff Writer Donna Riley-Lein contributed to this report.