Northumberland County, PA -- In one part of our area the American Red Cross says it's being spread thin and is hurting for help. A series of fires in Northumberland County is to blame.
The latest happened at a double-block home on Oneida Street in Shamokin Monday night. Two families fled for their lives. According to witnesses, one of the victims tried to save family pets. He became trapped on a third story window.
"He had no choice but to jump and my brother-in- law said, 'You've got to jump or you're going to die!'" said Shane Collectivizes. The 17 year old man is in critical condition.
While fire victims dealt with that, the Red Cross stepped in to help. "They were very nice people. They gave us money to buy the kids clothes. Like I said, we lost everything in there. (They) gave us money for food to feed them for the rest of the week," said fire victim Robert Perusing.
There were two other major fires in the last two weeks in Northumberland County. Flames ripped through a home on West Willow Street in Shamokin Friday and a restaurant and apartments went up in flames in Treverton before that and another house fire in Shamokin Township. In all. 31 victims were helped by the Red Cross at a cost of $3,000, putting a drain on the agency's budget.
"We appreciate what everybody is doing for the big disasters but sometimes we're forgotten at the local chapters. Now that's what our concern is. We've been hurting. We've got a lot more going out and we're in the middle of our fire season and we're worried about what's going to come down the line," said Marcy Mining of the Red Cross.
The Red Cross isn't the only agency in need of a break. Firefighters said they could use a break. "Hopefully that will be the last fire for a while. We could use a break," said firefighter Scott Schleig.
"We also run quite a bit of smaller calls, vehicle accidents, furnace malfunctions," said Shamokin Assistant Chief William Millbrand.
"Everyone is starting to wear down and it really starts to work on you after a while," added Chief Irvin Heim.
Most of the fires have been at night, in sub-freezing temperatures.
If you'd like to help the American Red Cross, donations can be made out to the American Red Cross, 1402 Laurel Boulevard, Pottsville, PA 17901. Make sure you put Fire Fund in the memo line of the check.
