PARIS — Three days after the fire, water still dripped from the charred ceiling of the apartment Harold Collins and his family called home. 

On Friday, an early-evening blaze gutted the two-story duplex at 45-47 Nichol St., leaving two families homeless. Firefighters from 10 towns battled the blaze last week for more than three hours. The building, which is a complete loss, was filled with about a foot of water until Sunday.

Picking through the remains on Monday, the 10 people who called the duplex home were still trying to make sense of what had happened. 

Wednesday Westleigh, who lived on the other side of the duplex from Collins, said she doesn’t remember much of the blaze — it was too much of  a blur.

As she stood in Collins’ upstairs hallway, surveying the damage in disbelief, she tried to keep everyone’s spirits light, cracking a joke: “Look at all the new skylights.”

She said, “I know it’s not funny, but at the end of the day, what are you going to do?” 

The fire left her family of five with little, though she was grateful everyone — including their two dogs — were alive. 

Renovations on Westleigh’s side of the apartment had recently finished, and the family had just moved back in. They lost almost everything, but managed to salvage baby photos. 

“Those are priceless,” Westleigh said.

The situation is slightly more immediate for the Collins’ family, who was in the process of moving back into the apartment after recent renovations replaced the flooring and paint on the walls. The family doesn’t have fire insurance, and while they didn’t lose everything, they’re unsure of how to replace furniture, clothing and other goods.

“The next step is to find somewhere to live,” Harold Collins said. 

The American Red Cross has supplied both families with vouchers to stay at a motel in town, but without a place to cook, they’re struggling to buy precooked meals and prepare to send their two kids back to school on Thursday.

Aid from neighbors has been coming in, but the families say they’re in desperate need of gift cards to shop for basic supplies and toiletries.

Paris fire Chief Brad Frost said a state fire marshal’s office report indicated the fire was caused by an electrical problem near the kitchen stove. From there, the flames climbed up the apartment walls and into the attic. 

The family had fire insurance and hoped to use the money to find a new place. But Daniel Robare, Westleigh’s boyfriend, doubts if he’ll ever be able to live in an apartment again. 

“I thought it was something silly that they could contain at first. Then, when I heard the chainsaws, I knew it was over,” Robare said.