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Two Families Face Struggle After Devastating Fire
Two Families Face Struggle After Devastating Fire - Monday, October 5, 2009 at 5:40PM EST
Reported by: Mark Hiller
Monday, Oct 5, 2009 @ 05:40pm EDT
PLYMOUTH, LUZERNE COUNTY - Two families are staying elsewhere after a devastating weekend fire in Plymouth..
A work crew was busy, Monday, cleaning up the boarded up, burned out double block home on Willow Street.
The massive fire Sunday afternoon ripped through 26 Willow Street before spreading to the other side.
Regina Epps says she was cooking when a grease fire quickly overtook the kitchen.
"I ran out into the next door neighbors and let them know that the pot was on fire," said Epps.
She and the Sims family next door got out safely..
Regina's 13-year-old daughter, Khadijah, was cheerleading at the Plymouth Shawnee Indians youth football game. Both the girl and her 10-year-old brother, MJ, were also helping out at the concession stand.
"They was at the field and they were safe," said Epps. "But once they came, well Khadijah comes running down and saw me sitting across the street on a neighbor's porch and she was just... she was distraught."
The Epps family and their neighbors lost virtually everything.
Neither family had renter's insurance and Regina's only family picture spared in the fire is a wallet photo.
"My photo albums with old pictures of family and stuff, you know, that I'll never get back, that... that's, that's just the most important thing that hurts me the most," said Epps.
With her home in ruins, Regina hopes to have another place for her family to stay by the end of the week. but she realizes getting her family's life back to normal may take much longer than that.
The family is getting help. The Plymouth Shawnee Indians youth football organization collected hundreds of dollars for the fire victims while neighbors and the Red Cross are also pitching in..
"I thank the neighborhood and the cheerleading squad, the football squad, I thank all the guys that pulled through to help us," said Epps.
"I thank them from the bottom of my heart and my kids do, too. My kids really do."
The Plymouth Shawnee Indians are taking donations Monday night at the football field on Rowe Lane in Plymouth.
Clothing, household items and money will be accepted from 5:30 until 7:00 p. m. | |
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