The community is rallying together to help a local family who lost all their belongings in a house fire last Friday.
Donations of clothes, bedding, furniture and toys are currently being collected by Crystal Ann Sedore and Julia Smith for Niki Smith and her two young children, who luckily were’t home at the time. Drop-off locations are at 439 3rd Avenue in Hope and 63797 Beech Road in Silver Creek. An online fundraiser has also been launched at www.gofundme.com/jyqp0s
When firefighters arrived at the home in the 19500 block of Silverhope Road last Friday at about 1:50 p.m., smoke was billowing from the roof and the electrical wires to the house were making noises, arching and sparking.
“We made our attempts to ensure no one was in the house as best we could by knocking on doors and hollering,” said fire chief Tom DeSorcy, adding that two deceased cats were found.
“The area of origin where we believe the fire began was in a back room in the basement. There was smoke and water damage in the upstairs with the exception of the one upstairs bedroom where the fire went through a small hole in the floor. The fire also started to burn the electrical panel that was in that room.”
A dozen firefighters were on scene for 3.5 hours making sure the fire was fully extinguished. The exact cause of the blaze remains under investigation, but it’s not considered suspicious.
