Diana Grubbs was frying chicken Saturday evening when she accidentally spilled grease on the electric stovetop and a fire started.

“It was like a shotgun went off,” she said.

The fire quickly got out of hand and engulfed part of the roof of the house at 218 Adams St., displacing Grubbs, her three sons and her husband. Grubbs sustained second-degree burns to her right foot and left arm, but no one else was injured.

Atmore Fire Chief Gerry McGhee said the fire reached the insulation in the roof and caused the damage. He said the house was not a “total loss.”

“We knocked it out pretty quick, but there was water and smoke damage,” McGhee said.

The roof is fixable, but Grubbs said she and her husband had let the insurance on their home lapse at the end of October. She said it had only been 20 days since the insurance lapsed.

“I’m still devastated, seeing all my kids’ clothes and everything being destroyed,” Grubbs said from the Muskogee Inn, where the American Red Cross provided the family two days worth of lodging.

She said she’s trying to get on disability for lupus and her husband, Jeffrey Wilson, is already on disability.

Grubbs and Wilson share the house with three sons, 23-year-old Keedem Grubbs, 19-year-old Desmond Grubbs and 11-year-old Escambia County Middle School student Jeffrey Wilson.

In addition to donations to help with the roof repair, she said the family is asking for clothes and food. Pants sizes: 44/32, 36/32 and 36/30 would be appreciated as well as shirts in sizes 3X to Large. Underwear, undershirts and shoes in sizes 11-1/2, 10-1/2 and 9 would also be appreciated.

Those interested in making a donation to help the family with its needs can drop them off at The Unity House drop box at 313 N. Main St.