Family escapes fire in East Beth Monday
Courtesy of Bentleyville Fire Department
Fire crews work to extinguish a house fire in East Bethlehem Township Monday morning.
Courtesy of Bentleyville Fire Department
Fire crews work to extinguish a house fire in East Bethlehem Township Monday morning.
A family of three escaped a house fire in East Bethlehem Township Monday morning.
Fire crews from Washington and Greene counties responded to the 10 a.m. fire in the 300 block of Main Street, only a few hours after returning from battling another fire at Sunset Marina the night before.
“I was at the fire station when the whistle blew, which is rare,” said East Bethlehem Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mark Giovanelli.
The family was home when the fire started in the one-story house, Giovanelli said. The two adults were in bed, he said, when their 6-year-old discovered the fire. Giovanelli said the man residing there told him that when the child woke him, he “looked out and all he saw was the orange glow of the fire in the next room.”
All three were able to escape uninjured through a bedroom window, Giovanelli said. The man, Giovanelli said, attempted to go back inside to get a dog. When he opened the door, the dog was there and able to escape, Giovanelli said.
“The house was fully involved by the time we arrived,” Giovanelli said.
He said they were glad to have several departments responding.
“There were a lot of nooks and crannies that needed to be opened up,” Giovanelli said. “There were a lot of hiding spaces where the fire was, and it just took a little more time for overhaul.”
Assisting at the scene were firefighters from Denbo Vesta Six, Richeyville, Bentleyville, Clarksville, Rices Landing, and Brownsville EMS. The Red Cross also was called to assist the family, who had been renting the home.
The family’s next-door neighbor, Michael Ozohonish, posted on Facebook that he is organizing a donations collection for the family, including money, personal care items, clothing and shoes. In the post, he wrote, “… everyone made it out, which is most important, however they lost everything they had.”
Ozohonish owns Ozy’s Bar & Grill, and said that’s where items will be collected. It’s about a block away from the house. He also posted the sizes needed for clothing and shoes, and said that since the child is in kindergarten, “I’m sure some toys and things of that nature would be appreciated also.”
In his post, Ozohonish commended the fire departments for responding to “two major fires within 12 hours,” and encouraged others to support them too.
“They do a fantastic job and don’t get the recognition they deserve,” he wrote in the post. “They volunteer their time and risk their lives, and it’s important that we give them as much support as possible.”