KNAPPA – A Knappa-area family is safe and uninjured after fire destroyed their home.

But Darren and Teri Wright, and their children, Sasha, 19, and Gabriel, 14, lost most of their belongings and several of their pets to the flames early Sunday morning.

A bank account, the Wright Family Relief Fund, has been set up at Bank of America in Astoria to receive donations to help the Wrights get back on their feet.

Darren Wright said Monday that all was well when he and Teri went to bed Saturday night, shortly before midnight. Gabriel was asleep on the couch in the living room of their home at 92640 Camelia Road. Their daughter Sasha was away, visiting friends in Eugene. Darren Wright is manager of the United Grocers store in Warrenton; Teri Wright is a teacher’s aide for the Knappa School District.

“We woke up about 12:30 and there was haze and smoke in the bedroom,” Darren Wright said. He said it was dark and they were gasping for air as they yelled for their son. He said Teri ran into the living room and felt her way around, located Gabriel and left by the door to the deck. Meanwhile, Darren ran out the front door.

He said Teri tried to use a garden hose to put out the flames when she thought she heard one of their cats, but at that point a window blew out and the house went up in flames.

Three cats and two turtles died in the fire while two dogs and a cat escaped, according to family friend Dana Lewis Allen, who set up the bank account for the Wrights. “They lost almost everything. They’re really still grieving,” she said.

Lewis Allen said the Red Cross is putting the Wrights up at a hotel for a couple of nights, after which they will move temporarily into a house in Warrenton, owned by Jan and Ed Johnson. She said beds and couches have been donated already, and she is acting as “command central” to coordinate other donations and urged people to call her at (503) 458-5343.

A registry has been set up at Astoria Builders Supply to help Darren Wright replace the tools he lost in the fire.

The Wrights were renting the one-story wood frame house with a partial basement from Gene Cutlip.

Paul Olheiser, chief of the Knappa-Svensen Fire Department, said Cutlip told him it was covered by fire insurance. Olheiser said the house was 70 percent involved in flames when firefighters arrived. He estimated damage to house at $200,000.

Wright said he did not have renters insurance on the family’s belongings.

The Knappa-Svensen Fire Department was assisted initially by the John Day Fire Department, Olheiser said. When the next alarm went out, the Astoria Fire Department responded to the fire scene and Westport Fire Department stood by at the Knappa station. Olheiser said the cause of the fire, which started in the basement, remains under investigation.