June 05--George Gera sat on a neighbor's porch and watched as his home in Eckley Miners' Village burned Tuesday morning.
"Eighty-six years ago I was born in there," he said, his eyes fixed on the red and black house at 40 Main St. "And I still live -- or lived -- there."
A few hours after the 11 a.m. fire, Eckley director Bode Morin said it was too early to know whether Gera's home could be spared. A team from the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission will look at the property today to determine whether it can be repaired, he said.
The rear portion of the half-double home was charred by flames and a portion of its roof was cut away in an attempt to stop the fire from spreading to the unoccupied side.
Volunteer firefighters from at least 10 departments responded, and one was treated for heat exhaustion at Hazleton General Hospital.
Gera said he was sleeping on the first floor and was rattled awake by his smoke detectors' sirens.
"The smoke was so thick I didn't know where I was," he said. "I never saw smoke so dense, so thick."
Gera fumbled his way from the middle of the home to the front porch and saw a delivery truck on Main Street. He flagged down the driver and asked him to tell museum officials that his home was on fire.
"I couldn't use the phone or anything" to report the fire, he explained.
By that point, however, Fearnots Volunteer Fire Company of Foster Township Chief Michael Spock said an automatic alarm at the village had come through. The next report was from museum officials, who confirmed that there was a fire.
Spock was on his way within minutes and as he neared the scene, he knew what he was in store for.
"I could see smoke from (as far away as) the Highland Mountain," he said.
Fire crews arrived to find the rear of the home in flames.
"It went from there," Spock said.
Spock said flames ate through the aging wooden home with ease. He said the village's poor water pressure didn't help matters.
"This is a piece of history and we did our best to save what we could," said Spock, who believes the fire was sparked by an electrical problem.
Morin, who sat with Gera Tuesday morning, said the home was built in the mid-1850s to house coal miners. Gera's father, an immigrant from Czechoslovakia, was a miner and first lived on a back street in Eckley.
Gera was delivered by a midwife and lived in the home for all but 10 years of his life. He moved away to teach college classes, and it was during that time -- around 1958 or 1960 -- when the adjoining home's chimney overheated and caused some fire damage. Gera's mother was home and the home was spared.
Gera eventually returned to Eckley.
"It's very quiet here," said Gera, who decorates his front porch with American flags and greets visitors who tour the historic town.
As he sat on his neighbor's rocking chair, friends and family members rushed to him with hugs and comforting words. All were happy to see he was well.
Gera credited the smoke detector -- and the grace of God -- with saving his life.
He said he would likely stay with family. After the fire was extinguished family members helped him salvage items from the home, which, like other properties at Eckley, is owned by the state.
Hazle Township, Sugarloaf, Freeland, Kidder Township, Weatherly, McAdoo, Dennison Township, West Hazleton, and Lehigh and Lausanne fire companies were at the scene. The Freeland Community Ambulance, American Patient Transport Systems of Hazleton and White Haven Ambulance were also on hand.
Copyright 2013 - Standard-Speaker, Hazleton, Pa.
