A New Bedford couple is picking up the pieces after a fire tore through their home just days after Christmas.

Daniel Mendoza Lopez told 12 News he left to visit his mother’s house that afternoon only to return a few hours later to see his Topham Street home engulfed in flames.

He was even more devastated to learn that his husband, Adel Mendoza Lopez, had been rushed to Rhode Island Hospital with third-degree burns.

“He has burns over approximately 25% of his body that will require three or four surgeries,” Daniel said.

See more at wpri.com.