NATCHEZ — The Norris family lost more than material possessions Thursday.

They lost pets and a life savings Janis Norris was counting on to retire.

Those plans were put on hold after a fire fully engulfed their home on U.S. 61 North.

Natchez Fire Department responded to the fire around 9 a.m. and quickly had the fire under control once on the scene, but the damage had been done.

When the smoke lifted, all that was left inside were unidentifiable heaps of char and mud.

“My whole life was in that house,” said Norris, who was renting the house. “Everything we owned.”

“I am too old to start over.”

Norris, 65, lived in the one bedroom house near Historic Jefferson College with her husband Carl and grandchildren Tiffany and Mark for five years.

At the time of the fire, only Mark was home. He was dozing off while watching television when the lights flickered and awakened him. The noise stopped and everything went back to normal, but then he smelled smoke.

The fire started in a wall socket in Janis and Carl’s bedroom.

Mark’s first instinct was to grab the animals — he was able to grab two. But when he went back for the third, the smoke and fire was already to extreme.

The family’s 10-year-old dog Angel died along with their birds, Tweety and Petey. The fish survived.

Angel belonged to Norris’ adopted daughter Grace Murphy Norris, who died two years ago from Cystic Fibrosis.

Angel was one of many things the family lost Thursday.

“My little girl died two years ago, and everything of hers burnt,” Norris said.

But memories weren’t the only thing that burned in house fire. The family lost their life saving, which was stowed away inside the house.

“You save your money for when you get old,” Norris said. “We were fixing to retire, but not anymore.”

The fire has allowed the family to realize what is most important are the things that remain.

“Thank God we have our lives,” Norris said. “All I have left is family and God.”