Livingston County family narrowly escapes devastating house fire

Family grateful for help from neighbors, friends

LIVINGSTON COUNTY, Mich.A fire destroyed a Livingston County family’s home and killed their dog on Saturday morning.

Even with everything they’ve lost the Pinckney family has found a silver lining.

Rachel and David Swinton said they remember vividly what happened Saturday morning. The fire started on the front porch and by the time they noticed it flames were already on the second floor.

Rachel Swinton’s mother was living in their basement. She is 70 years old and battling cancer.

“I remember being in the basement. When I got her mom to the top of the basement ... So I bent her mom over and dragged her mother out to the back deck,” David Swinton said.

Rachel Swinton was getting their 3-year-old son Ashton outside. She tried to go back inside to save their dog, Sienna. She wasn’t able to rescue the dog.

The family lost everything, identification, wedding books, passports, birth certificates. The Swinton’s say the fire hasn’t been investigated yet, but they know it started on the front porch.

The family is grateful for every neighbor, stranger and friend who has offered support. They are currently living with their best friends, who live next door.

Click here to visit the GoFundMe page for the Swinton family.


About the Authors:

Nick joined the Local 4 team in February of 2015. Prior to that he spent 6 years in Sacramento covering a long list of big stories including wildfires and earthquakes. Raised in Sterling Heights, he is no stranger to the deep history and pride Detroit has to offer.

Kayla is a Web Producer for ClickOnDetroit. Before she joined the team in 2018 she worked at WILX in Lansing as a digital producer.