Dan Colton / Staff Photo
Henry Nowak surveys his destroyed home in Mount Holly on Tuesday. He and his wife barely got out ahead of the fire that gutted the house.
MOUNT HOLLY — A local man said he and his wife were minutes away from being burned to death as a fire ravaged their Mount Holly home on Route 103.
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
Henry Nowak, 77, said he and his wife, Phyllis, were watching television around 8 p.m. Monday when a man started pounding on the front door.
But Nowak, who has difficulty hearing, said he did not immediately notice the knocking. He said he did not know how precious the passing seconds were.
“Finally, he got my attention,” Nowak said.
He opened the door to see a frantic man who had been driving by. “And he said, ‘Get out! Get out! The garage is all on fire!’” Nowak recalled.
On Tuesday, the ranch-style home was gutted by flames, leaving a charred and broken interior. Twisted scrap metal lay among the wreckage, and a dead power line lay frayed on the lawn.
The copse of trees surrounding the home had blackened and singed limbs, dripping in the rain.
Staring into the skeletal remains of his home, Nowak said the prior night’s experience was a close brush with death.
“We were sitting there right on the couch,” said Nowak, pointing into the destroyed living room.
A single wall, now burned away, separated the garage from the living room. Yet Nowak said he didn’t detect any signs of trouble.
“We didn’t smell any smoke, didn’t see anything, no flames, no nothing,” he said, adding the passerby came at the right time.
“About another two minutes, we would’ve been stuck inside,” he said. “It was that close — it just makes me shudder, you know?”
Once outside, Nowak saw flames roaring through the garage. By the time he and his wife made it outside to safety, he said, the attached garage was engulfed by the blaze.
Two cars were parked near the garage, potentially explosive threats. With help from his wife and the man who alerted him, Nowak repositioned the vehicles safely down his driveway.
They waited for fire responders to arrive, he said, but in the meantime, propane tanks in the garage exploded, blowing the garage door off its frame.
The power line above his home was caught in the explosion, gushing sparks “like the Fourth of July” before falling on the lawn, Nowak said.
Nowak said his collection of 50 guns was trapped inside during the fire. When firefighters arrived he asked them to focus their efforts on dousing his gun collection room — but they couldn’t get too close.
“They couldn’t go in there because I had one drawer chock full of ammunition,” Nowak said.
Despite losing almost everything in the fire — “Everything I’ve got, I’m wearing on my back” — Nowak said his biggest regret is the loss of his photographs.
The loss of his home where he’s lived since 1979 didn’t seem to faze him Tuesday afternoon. He managed to joke and smile as a contingent of family members helped sort through the wreckage.
“We’re just fortunate nobody got hurt,” Nowak said. “That’s most important. A house — you can build a new house.”
Nowak is unsure whether the house will be rebuilt, though he said his homeowner’s insurance should cover the cost.
Moving into a condominium is one option, he said. Also, he owns several campers. For the moment, Nowak and his wife are staying with his son.
Keith Hawkins, Mount Holly’s fire chief, was not available for comment Tuesday.
dan.colton
@rutlandherald.com
The cause of the fire remains unknown.
Henry Nowak, 77, said he and his wife, Phyllis, were watching television around 8 p.m. Monday when a man started pounding on the front door.
But Nowak, who has difficulty hearing, said he did not immediately notice the knocking. He said he did not know how precious the passing seconds were.
“Finally, he got my attention,” Nowak said.
He opened the door to see a frantic man who had been driving by. “And he said, ‘Get out! Get out! The garage is all on fire!’” Nowak recalled.
On Tuesday, the ranch-style home was gutted by flames, leaving a charred and broken interior. Twisted scrap metal lay among the wreckage, and a dead power line lay frayed on the lawn.
The copse of trees surrounding the home had blackened and singed limbs, dripping in the rain.
Staring into the skeletal remains of his home, Nowak said the prior night’s experience was a close brush with death.
“We were sitting there right on the couch,” said Nowak, pointing into the destroyed living room.
A single wall, now burned away, separated the garage from the living room. Yet Nowak said he didn’t detect any signs of trouble.
“We didn’t smell any smoke, didn’t see anything, no flames, no nothing,” he said, adding the passerby came at the right time.
“About another two minutes, we would’ve been stuck inside,” he said. “It was that close — it just makes me shudder, you know?”
Once outside, Nowak saw flames roaring through the garage. By the time he and his wife made it outside to safety, he said, the attached garage was engulfed by the blaze.
Two cars were parked near the garage, potentially explosive threats. With help from his wife and the man who alerted him, Nowak repositioned the vehicles safely down his driveway.
They waited for fire responders to arrive, he said, but in the meantime, propane tanks in the garage exploded, blowing the garage door off its frame.
The power line above his home was caught in the explosion, gushing sparks “like the Fourth of July” before falling on the lawn, Nowak said.
Nowak said his collection of 50 guns was trapped inside during the fire. When firefighters arrived he asked them to focus their efforts on dousing his gun collection room — but they couldn’t get too close.
“They couldn’t go in there because I had one drawer chock full of ammunition,” Nowak said.
Despite losing almost everything in the fire — “Everything I’ve got, I’m wearing on my back” — Nowak said his biggest regret is the loss of his photographs.
The loss of his home where he’s lived since 1979 didn’t seem to faze him Tuesday afternoon. He managed to joke and smile as a contingent of family members helped sort through the wreckage.
“We’re just fortunate nobody got hurt,” Nowak said. “That’s most important. A house — you can build a new house.”
Nowak is unsure whether the house will be rebuilt, though he said his homeowner’s insurance should cover the cost.
Moving into a condominium is one option, he said. Also, he owns several campers. For the moment, Nowak and his wife are staying with his son.
Keith Hawkins, Mount Holly’s fire chief, was not available for comment Tuesday.
dan.colton
@rutlandherald.com
No comments:
Post a Comment