A large family in Bridgeport is displaced and now left picking up the pieces after a fire ripped through their home on Thursday.

The fire happened on Seaview Avenue, where officials say it spread to all three floors of the multi-family home.

"We're finally able to have the two seperate households in the same house together, so we could all be together and I don't know if we'll ever find that again," said LaShonna Elsenpeter.

It was a place where eight of their family members lived for the last year. During the pandemic, Elsenpeter said they were evicted from their home and finally settled on Seaview Avenue last November.

"We went from being homeless to being homeless again," she said.

The family tells News 12 they believe one of their cats knocked over a candle in a first-floor bedroom.

Just one day before the fire, the family says their dog was killed in a hit-and-run in front of the home.

All their items are now gone, including two cats that died, and precious family mementos.

"My mother and her mother both passed away. All their pictures, my mother's ashes were in there," said LaShonna Elsenpeter.

She also says all their medication was in the house too.

Their friends started a GoFundMe, which has already raised half their goal of $5,000.