Residents Jump From Burning Pennsylvania Home

April 10--Shards of glass cracking beneath her feet, her home in ruin behind her, Lynn Labrosky pointed to a singed shoebox Monday morning and thanked God.

"Those are photos," Mrs. Labrosky said just hours after she, her husband and his daughter had to jump from the roof of the home's porch as flames consumed 822 Beech St.

"The photos survived," she said. "I can't tell you how good God is."

Boxes of photos, a bouquet of flowers her daughter brought her after Easter Sunday Mass and a few piles of smoke-stained keepsakes were all Mrs. Labrosky and her family could salvage from their home after the flames engulfing the structure spread to the neighboring home at 820 Beech St. early Monday morning, leaving a total of seven residents homeless.

She and her husband, Jeff Labrosky, had just drifted off to sleep when a neighbor started pounding on their front door at about 2:30 a.m.

"Get up! Get up! You got to get out, the house is burning!" a resident of 820 Beech St., who declined to identify himself, said he screamed as the flames began to pick up in the rear of the Labrosky home.

When she heard the neighbor's cries, Mrs. Labrosky woke her husband and the two went to get his 13-year-old daughter in the next room.

"When we opened our bedroom door, the heat and the smoke -- we couldn't go any further," Mrs. Labrosky said.

Mr. Labrosky managed to get his daughter from her room and returned to the bedroom he shared with his wife, where the family climbed out a window onto the roof of the porch, Mrs. Labrosky said.

Standing on the roof as the home burned, the Labroskys saw city police Officers Dan Schaufler and Chris Kaushas, along with Cpl. Tom McDonald arrive and pull a squad car up to the home and called for them to jump down onto it.

Whipping winds had already pushed the fire onto the home next door at 820 Beech St., and responding city firefighters found both homes in flames upon arrival, Deputy Fire Chief Al Lucas said.

After the family dropped down onto the squad car, city firefighters fought the wind-driven flames for three hours while two families looked on, watching helplessly as their homes burned.

Mrs. Labrosky was nine months pregnant with her youngest child when she bought the home at 822 Beech St. about 15 years ago, she said. Her two other children were only 4 and 5 years old then.

When her father, who suffers from a heart condition, saw the home his daughter had raised her family in going up in smoke, he collapsed in the street, Mrs. Labrosky said. He was transported to Geisinger Community Medical Center for treatment and was later released, she said.

High winds may have been to blame for spreading the fire quickly, Deputy Chief Lucas said, and did not help the city firefighters actively fighting the blaze until 5:30 Monday morning.

"It was a hard-fought fire," he said. "The wind was a factor obviously ... It was a good three hours worth of hard labor to get this under control."

In the end, the four Labroskys living at 822 Beech St. -- Mrs. Labrosky's oldest son is a student living at Keystone College -- and three residents from 820 Beech St. were displaced.

The Red Cross of Lackawanna County is providing them with food, clothing and shelter, said Brian Wrightson, emergency services director for the agency.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined by city fire inspectors investigating the blaze.

The Dutch Hollow Neighborhood Association is accepting donations for the victims in its fire relief fund at Citizens Savings Bank on Cedar Avenue, said Bob Sheridan, president of the association.

Mr. Sheridan said any checks made out to the fund should have "800 block of Beech Street" written as a memo.

Though no residents or firefighters were injured, Mr. Labrosky's golden retriever, Cookie, perished in the flames. The family later buried their pet in the home's backyard.

Mrs. Labrosky's dog, a pug/beagle mix named Penny, suffered burns to its eyes and severe smoke inhalation, Mrs. Labrosky said.

Despite the uncertain future of the structure, the family that made 822 Beech St. a home over more than a decade could not help but be thankful for what they did not lose.

"We're alive," Mrs. Labrosky said as her oldest son embraced her outside the home.

A neighbor driving by, seeing the destruction, the city fire truck still sitting across the street and the Labroskys milling in front of their ruined home, rolled down her window and offered her help.

"Anything I can do," the woman called.

"Just prayers," Mrs. Labrosky replied.

Contact the writer: [email protected]