After watching her upstate New York home go up in flames earlier this summer, Rachael Ray is opening about the emotions she and her family have dealt with since the tragic incident.
The chef and TV host told "Good Morning America" Monday that she instinctively knew what to do to escape the inferno on the evening of Aug. 9.
"It's overwhelming, but you have to stay mindful and positive and it's remarkable how many people come out in your community and your friends and your viewers -- we all have a bigger circle than we know," Ray said.
"We've learned nothing but gratitude. We lost our home and I just can't tell you how important it is to listen to your first responders," Ray explained, adding that she and her family "just trust in them."
Ray recalled starting a fire that cool August day at her Lake Luzerne, New York, home before cooking a pasta dinner for her husband, John Cusimano, who had been out golfing for the first time since the pandemic.
"A few minutes after we started the fire in the fireplace a fellow came through the backyard screaming 'your roof's on fire,'" she said of the stranger who was riding by on an ATV at the time. "We ran outside and sure enough it was. By the time I'd gone upstairs to determine what we could save, I could hear the fire crackling through the walls and building and because of my work with the Denis Leary Firefighter [Foundation] and training over several years with actual first responders I knew to leave immediately."
The couple and their puppy made it out safely and the state Office of Fire Prevention and Control later determined that the fire was accidental, caused by an animal that had burrowed inside the chimney.
"My mom actually lives across the street and we were just so thrilled the fire didn't come down the hill and wipe out her home," Ray said.
She also recognized how lucky she was to have a place to stay after the fire.
"We see our fellow Americans suffering out West, these horrible wildfires and they don't have a place to go," Ray said. "A few years ago we bought a small property across the street to make a little guest house and we've never been so happy for a bed and roof over our heads. We had a place to go to ... it's made us so mindful of what we have and so grateful. And so grateful for our show, too."
The Food Network star and talk show host, who resumed production from her home kitchen, said she has been able to open up to people about this event and connect on a deeper level.
"We feel so much stronger and together with our viewers because we've been able to share all of these really personal experiences and these huge arcs in our lives and we feel a part of things even though we're so far away," she said holding back tears. "It's ironic."
Ray added that "it's tough to literally watch" 15 years of her life go away as she sees bulldozers and excavation units removing the debris from across the street.
"But we have so much to be grateful for. We're still here," she said with her signature smile.
Now that the couple has had time to digest what happened, she said "it doesn't hit you right away, like we were very practical and watched our house burn and we were just thinking like what do we do now? What do we do next? It hits you in waves and my husband and I kind of take turns at this."
"The first one to hit me was realizing I had lost so much of my mom's handwriting. She has very bad macular degeneration and she has written me so many letters and notes over the years that I had saved. All of my notebooks, 40 years of my life's work. Remediation teams are working tirelessly trying to save what they can. We don't know, we may get back some things, but as you can see from just the picture of our home today, there's not a lot there," Ray said.
She said the most important thing is that "we have our lives and we just feel so much -- this connection with both our first responders and the folks that are going through the same thing this summer."
Both "The Rachael Ray Show" and "30 Minute Meals" return Monday, Sept. 14, for new seasons and episodes.