Celebrity chef and talk show host Rachael Ray and her husband escaped a fire that ravaged her home in upstate New York on Sunday, officials have confirmed. When the fire broke out, Ray and her husband, John Cusimano, were in the home with their dog. Ray’s house is in Lake Luzerne. Brian LaFleure, the county’s director of emergency services and fire coordinator, told CNN, “Everyone was able to get out safely.” He added that there were no injuries, and right now the agency is in the process of determining what may have caused the fire. LaFleure said specifically that it’s “nothing suspicious, but we’re looking to determine what the cause was.”
According to reports, most of the damage caused by the fire was done to the property’s main house, and Ray’s rep also gave CNN a statement. “Rachael, her husband John and their dog Bella are safe,” the statement read. “Their home was unfortunately damaged and we are in the process of accessing to what extent. I am happy to provide updates as I know.” Since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down studios, Ray has been filming her daytime talk show, “The Rachael Ray Show,” from her home. She tweeted a “thank you” to the first responders who came to the family’s aid when the fire broke out, saying that they were “kind and generous.”
Thank you to our local first responders for being kind and gracious and saving what they could of our home. Grateful that my mom, my husband, my dog… we’re all okay. These are the days we all have to be grateful for what we have, not what we’ve lost.
— rachael ray (@rachaelray) August 10, 2020
…I *did* lose my phone (posting through a team member) Thank you for all the well wishes, concern and outreach, but can’t return texts and calls at the moment…!
— rachael ray (@rachaelray) August 10, 2020
In Ray’s tweet, she mentioned her mother, so it’s not clear if her mother was in the home with Ray and her husband or not. She noted that she lost her phone during the fire, so she was tweeting from a team member’s phone but can’t return texts and calls “at the moment.” Officials say that the star’s home sits deep int he woods on the Chuckwagon Trail of Lake Luzerne in Warren County. According to reports, the home became enflamed at about 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. Warren County tweeted a report about the incident.
An update from Warren County Office of Emergency Services about the fire at Rachael Ray's home in Lake Luzerne: pic.twitter.com/aiLUce7gNB
— Warren County (@warrencountyny) August 10, 2020
When the fire broke out, fire departments from around the regions responded to the scene of the fire with tankers and personnel to handle the fire.
Here is a video that shows some of the fire that wreaked havoc on Ray’s home.