A fire can happen for a number of reasons, but once the smoke and flames start, it can escalate rapidly. That’s why smoke detectors and a plan in the case of a fire are so important. Escaping quickly is critical.

Caterina Scorsone is an actress on the ABC show “Grey’s Anatomy.” She plays Amelia Shepherd. In real life, Scorsone is a mom to three young children, daughters Eliza, age 10, Paloma “Pippa,” age 6, and Lucky, age 3. All of her daughters are from her previous marriage to Rob Giles.

Scorsone’s Instagram is mostly filled with pictures of her with her co-stars, with her family, or out in nature, but a couple days ago, she posted something different. She shared a picture of the inside of her home after a fire destroyed it.

She started the post by explaining matter of factly, “A couple of months ago my house burned down.” When the fire started, she was “getting my kids ready for bed and finishing bath time.” She continued, “Smoke began to seep up through the grout around the tub. When I looked down the hallway a river of thick black smoke had already formed and was filling the house.”

Scorsone acted quickly. She wrote, “I had about two minutes to get my three kids out of the house, and we escaped with less than shoes on our feet.”

While Scorsone is “eternally grateful” that she and her children escaped from the fire, she is also “heartbroken” that they lost all four of the family pets in the flames. She wrote, “We are still sitting with that loss, but we are lucky we got to love them at all.”

While Scorsone posted a picture of the destruction from the fire and wrote about the fire, she explained that the purpose of the post was not about a fire. She wrote, “This is not a post about a fire. This is a post about community. This is a love letter to the incredible people that showed up and the incredible ways that they did.”

She proceeded to thank the firefighters, investigators, and the rest of her “team” who helped her and her children at that difficult time. She thanked her neighbor “who answered our frantic knocks at her door.” She also thanked “the parents at my kids’ school who sent toys and books” and her friends “who sent clothing and supplies.” In addition, she thanked her “sisters who flew in to handle logistics so that I could be with my kids.”

Watch the video below to learn more about the fire that destroyed Scorsone’s home.