Pa. Family Endures Second Fire in Seven Months

Dozens of firefighters from area companies stayed busy Sunday trying to contain blaze that tore through the 2-story wooden home in Bitner.

FRANKLIN TWP. - Orange flames were visible from nearly a mile away as firefighters battled a blaze Sunday that consumed a family's home in Bitner.

"I can't even cry right now," said Ashley Holland as she watched in horror as the flames burst out from a huge hole in the side of the home where she stayed with her boyfriend James Riggin Jr. and his family.

This was the second fire that members of the Riggin family have had to endure within about seven months. A fire destroyed a mobile home nearby on Aug. 28 where Holland and her boyfriend lived with friends on First Street - a very short hop from Sunday's fire at 213 Main St.

"I have the worst luck in the world," Holland said. "If I didn't have bad luck, I wouldn't have any luck at all. We just got moved in a couple of months ago."

A neighbor, Sheila Porter, put her arm around Holland and tried to console her.

"You and your family can come live with me," Porter said. "I'll take as many people in as I can. This is just horrendous. I just feel so bad."

Porter said she watched the house burn for several minutes before fire trucks arrived. She was glad no one was hurt.

"I'm glad everyone got out OK," she said. "If they hadn't gotten out, we would have pulled them out of the fire."

Samantha Beal of Main Street said she wasn't sure if she was hearing things moments before she realized there was a fire.

"I heard lots of sirens and I thought, 'Am I hearing things?'"she said.

Then Beal said she got a text from a firefighter asking about the fire.

"I looked out the window, saw the fire and sent him something back saying, 'yes we do,'" Beal said.

Dozens of firefighters from area companies stayed busy trying to contain blaze as it tore through the 2-story wooden home. Greg Shimko, of Tower Hill Company 2, said he was the first on the scene around 7 p.m. and the first inside the home wearing a fireman's mask. Shimko said no one was hurt as he grabbed some gear and headed back to the front lines.

Holland said she and James Riggin Jr. were upstairs watching television when the fire started.

"When we saw smoke, we just ran downstairs and ran outside," she said. "I'm still in shock. I can't believe this is happening."

Shimko said more than 25 firefighters from Smock, West Leisenring, North Union Township, Morrell, Flatwoods, Hopwood and Tower Hill volunteer fire departments responded to the call.

Holland said her boyfriend's parents, James Sr. and Karen, lived there with their three grown children: Olivia, Dillon and Angel. Holland said she and her boyfriend's 2-year-old son, James III, was visiting her boyfriend's grandfather Eli Nicklow when the fire started.

"I don't know what we're going to do," Holland said. "My first thought is that we have to start all over again. But you know what? At least everybody got out and everybody is OK."

After being treated for smoke inhalation, James Riggin Jr. braced himself for what was happening to him and his family - again.

"This is tragic," he said. "We were just getting things together and now we've lost everything that we've accumulated over the last six months. It really couldn't get much worse, so I guess it has to get better now."

Copyright 2013 Herald-Standard (Uniontown PA)Distributed by Newsbank, Inc. All Rights Reserved