Pocono News Section

Elderly Woman Homeless After Weekend Fire

Elderly Woman Homeless After Weekend Fire - Sunday, August 10, 2008 at 5:29PM EST

Reported by: Jill Konopka
Sunday, Aug 10, 2008 @ 05:29pm EST
LIBERTY TOWNSHIP, MONTOUR COUNTY- A 70-year-old woman lost her house this weekend after flames ripped through during a family gathering.

The fire happened Saturday night in Liberty Township, Montour County. Late Sunday morning, the flames started to flare up again.

Eyewitness News was the only crew on the scene when it happened. Hours after fire gutted Joyce Beaver's home on Stump Road, hot spots started flaring up again. Crews returned to douse the flames, as friends and family looked on.

Neighbor Mary Girton stopped by too. Girton told Eyewitness News, "To see if there was anything she wanted or needed and what we can do help her get through."

Joyce Beaver's son says 13 people were here Saturday night for a family gathering when a middle bedroom caught on fire.

The family escaped, but Ronnie Beaver says his mother suffered a silent heart attack.

William Auten and his wife came to see for themselves what happened. Auten added, "At church we heard it burnt down and we were coming up the road, and I said, 'boy she's still got a house, and then we'd seen every window was gone."

Family and friends tell us Joyce Beaver also battled cancer and lost her husband in the past several years.

The fire isn't suspicious. Liberty Township Fire Chief Keith Rine says accidents happen.

Chief Rine spoke with Eyewitness News, "It was a very hot structure, we asked, do we cut a hole in the roof to vent out the gas, but then we got in quick enough and knocked out the windows."

A cat Beaver cares for lost part of its coat, but as one neighbor says, "Everybody got out safely, everything else is replaceable," said Girton.

Companies battled the blaze for hours. A state police fire marshal will return to the scene of the fire Monday morning to make an exact determination. Joyce Beaver is insured, and will be staying with family once she's released from the hospital.