MULLICA TOWNSHIP — Christmas was relaxing for the Powers family.
Their four young children received plenty of presents, and there were 25 people at their home for....Continue Reading
Generosity of others helps South Jersey families recover from Christmastime fires
Posted: Thursday, December 29, 2011 11:45 pm | Updated: 7:36 am, Fri Dec 30, 2011.
dinner, but still, it was low-key to them.
"It was quieter than having 40 firemen at our house," Scott Powers said.
Last year, a fire started in their chimney on Christmas morning and burned through their second floor. No one was injured, but their home was uninhabitable, so they lived in a trailer for eight months while they knocked down and rebuilt on the same property.
If there is a worst time for such an accident, the holiday season is likely at the top of the list.
"The numbers certainly bear out that there are more fires this time of year, but I also think there is an element of increased attention when a fire occurs around a holiday," said Lorraine Carli, spokeswoman for the National Fire Protection Association. "It's particularly devastating, and they tend to get a little more attention than a fire at any other time of year."
Nationwide, home structure fires peak in December and January and decline as the weather warms. In the past five years, about a quarter of the 360,000 to 400,000 house fires a year happen in those two months, according to the NFPA.
Cooking is the leading cause of all home fires, but during the holidays there are the added risks from Christmas trees, decorative lights, extension cords and candles. An average of 240 fires a year begin when a Christmas tree catches fire, causing 13 deaths, 27 injuries and nearly $17 million in damage annually.
On Christmas day this year, an apartment house in Vineland was evacuated after an unattended stove started a fire that damaged several units.
In addition to the Powers family, the Hughes family in Estell Manor lost their home and cat in a Christmas Eve fire last year, and three days later the Shiffler family in Upper Township watched their house go up in flames.
The Hughes, Powers and Shiffler families were all flooded with donations that helped them return to normalcy and rebuild their homes so they could celebrate this past Christmas in relative peace.
In October, the Shifflers moved back into their home on the corner of Hope Corson and Stagecoach roads in Seaville, nearly 10 months after a faulty dryer vent started a fire there.
Tuesday was the one-year anniversary of the blaze, and on Wednesday, Jennifer Shiffler said, she was still overcome with the generosity of their neighbors.
"We've made so many new friends who will be in our hearts forever," she said. "God blessed us and blessed us with his little angels here on Earth."
She also thanked God for good insurance, which helped pay a lot of the costs to repair and rebuild. But without someone offering a home to rent down the street, neighbors donating furniture for the home, and a number of benefits in the months immediately after, she said recovering from the accident would have been more difficult.
"It would have been a lot harder mentally on us," she said, including her husband, Dennis, and their children, Nicole, 15, Alyssa, 12, and Dennis, 8.
Scott and Jennifer Powers said essentially the same thing. Their insurance left them about $50,000 short of what it cost to rebuild on their White Horse Pike property, not to mention the cost to replace their possessions.
They lived in a trailer next to the site for eight months, cramming the couple, their four children and their dogs into a space fractionally as large as their former home.
"That trailer just kept getting smaller and smaller," Scott Powers said.
Ironically, Powers is a fireman, and donation drives by the township’s fire departments, as well as organizations throughout South Jersey, helped fill their basic needs for everyday things.
They demolished their old home and put together a four-piece, two-story modular home on the site. For the other necessary work, from flooring to siding to utilities, they found local companies themselves instead of hiring a general contractor. Family members helped extensively as well.
They finally received their certificate of occupancy on Aug. 25, eight months exactly from the fire. Two days after Christmas this year, all appeared normal, as their children played with remote-control cars and strummed guitars courtesy of Santa Claus.
Now, they are just looking forward to 2012. Scott Powers said he could use a vacation.
“Maybe we’ll go camping,” he said, “instead of living in a camper.”
Contact Lee Procida: 609-457-8707 LProcida@pressofac.com
