A chimney fire on Pennywise Path in Edgartown last Tuesday destroyed a bedroom and has forced a family out of their home for the next month. The fire broke out in between the chimney and wall of Lisa and Herb Tilton’s home around 3 a.m., engulfing the house in smoke.

“We were there for two hours there was smoke coming out of the roof around the chimney when we arrived and everyone was out of the building at that point,” Edgartown fire chief Peter Shemeth said in a telephone conversation with the Gazette. “We had to cut part of the interior wall to get at it.”

It has been a hard year for the Tiltons, who are staying with friends until construction is complete. Mrs. Tilton said she received a triple bypass surgery, but she and her family are taking one day at a time.

“It’s so stressful,” Mrs. Tilton said yesterday afternoon. “It took out my daughter’s entire room. She lost everything . . . the smoke damaged the whole house, I’ve had to throw out a lot of clothes and linens because I know I’ll never get the smoke out.

“It’s going to be a really good year,” she said enthusiastically. “We’re doing it bit by bit. Our neighbors have been amazing and the people we are staying with are wonderful people.”