Fire damages Gilberton home; four displaced
KAYLEE LINDENMUTH / SHENANDOAH SENTINEL - Flames engulf one side of a home on Draper Street in Gilberton as a power line sparks on Dec. 5, 2020.
GILBERTON – Flames dealt considerable damage to a home in this borough Saturday afternoon.
Firefighters from across the region were called to Draper Street in the borough around 11:00am for reports of a fire.
Smoke could be seen from Bear Ridge and Frackville Police Patrolman Anthony Kankowski arrived to find flames running up the side of the home, along the chimney.
Those flames quickly spread through the eastern half of the home, blowing out the front windows.
Firefighters from Gilberton, Mahanoy City, Englewood, Frackville, and Shenandoah brought the fire under control in short order.
“We’re not sure of the cause yet,” Gilberton Fire Marshal Barry Brassington said. “Right now, we’re still investigating.”
“Everybody showed up, they got to work, and got the job done,” he added, of the response from firefighters.
Brassington said a family of four was displaced.
Ann Marie Shaeffer, the mother of the resident, said the home has been in her family since the 1960s.
“It was our homestead, and my dad passed away June 16, and my sister that took care of him, Mary Lou Hannon, today was her birthday, and we were supposed to have a celebration tonight,” Shaeffer said. “It’s heartbreaking.”
“They lost everything,” Shaeffer said of her daughter, son-in-law, and two grandchildren, who lived in the home. “It’s Christmas, their trees, their everything. And they had no insurance. They got out with just their pajamas on.”
Shaeffer said that one item her daughter was able to save was a molded handprint of her late father’s.
“It means the world to her. That was the only thing that she was able to get,” Shaeffer said.
A GoFundMe has been set up for fire relief. That can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/peel-family-house-fire
The American Red Cross is assisting the displaced family as well.
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