A local middle school teacher and her husband are out of their home after a fire burned it to the ground and took the lives of their two dogs. It happened Tuesday on the 1000 block of Decant Road in Jerusalem Township.
Now the Lake Local community is coming together to help.
Brick pillars, tattered siding and ashes are all that's left of the house at 1069 North Decant Road.
"You could see the fire in the living room through the windows," says neighbor Terry Hager. "Then the windows started popping."
Hager lives next door. Tuesday afternoon around 3:00, he looked out of his window at the rain and spotted smoke. He called 911 and ran over to try to save the two dogs inside.
"The other neighbor and I broke a window to get in, but we couldn't reach or get the deadbolt open," he says. "So the dogs perished in the fire from the smoke."
Jerusalem Township firefighters arrived on scene and put out the flames.
Hager says it looked like only part of the house was damaged.
But hours after the first fire, another one started, this time fanned by heavy winds from the storm.
"It was around 10:30. I saw a flash on the television and turned to look out, and the whole house was engulfed," says Hager.
The house is a total loss.
Friends of the middle school teacher who lived there are turning to Facebook to help. The Lake Flyers Blue Crew posted on their group page: "We have heavy hearts this morning after learning that one of our middle school teachers and her husband lost their home, belongings and beloved pets in a fire last night. Like any other family, when someone in our Flyer family needs help, we offer support in any way we can."
The group is asking everyone to drop off donations at any Lake Local school office and to keep the family in your prayers.
The owners were not home at the time of either fire. We're still waiting to hear from Jerusalem Township on a possible cause.
All content © Copyright 2000 - 2013 WorldNow and WICU. All Rights Reserved.
