Pennsylvania Woman Heartbroken Over Fire That Took Sisters House

WARRIOR RUN -- Catherine Skipalis, 90, recalls being rushed out of her Slope Street home as flames leaped out of the house belonging to her 86-year-old sister as the fire threatened to engulf her own home.

I was in bed. I was already fast asleep, Skipalis said. Then it was like an explosion that woke me up. I looked out my window, and it was all lit up.

Skipalis said after regaining her senses, she walked downstairs and found her grandson and a neighbor at the front door. While her grandson took her across the street, the neighbor turned on the garden hose outside her home and sprayed the front to keep the fire from spreading there. It was enough to save her home until firefighters arrived.

Skipalis sister, Mildred Yodsnukis, who lives in a nursing home, has not lived at her 321 Slope St. home for some time. Skipalis said she believes Yodsnukis is not aware of the state of her home, which was destroyed in the early morning hours of July 12.

Most of the structure is still standing. But it is charred with a large hole in the roof, and much of the siding was melted away.

State police on Monday arrested a 16-year-old boy who was a junior firefighter with the Sugar Notch Fire Department in connection with the fire. Authorities have not released his name and address.

Word that the blaze was intentionally set upset residents of normally quiet Slope Street, a small neighborhood of neatly kept homes nestled on a hill near the Hanover Township line.

They are very nice, very liked people, said Margo Houston, who has lived all her life in her grandmothers Slope Street house. It never shouldve happened to them.

This is a quiet neighborhood, added Houstons husband of 44 years, Jim, except for the ATVs that come through every once in a while.

Skipalis has lived at 319 Slope, behind Yodsnukis home, for about 70 years. For Skipalis, the fire was one more heartache she has had to suffer lately. A year ago today, my (61-year-old) son died, Skipalis said, her voice starting to break. Its heartbreaking.

Skipalis said she had to stay at her daughter-in-laws home across the street for three days until power was restored. Tuesday morning, the sharp odor of burned wood was still prominent around Yodsnukis home, including on Skipalis front porch, which is less than 20 feet behind the burned house.

That house is totaled, Skipalis said. Shell never come back to it.

Distributed by the Associated Press