By Daniel Pye<br><a href="mailto:pyed@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Dan</a>
KENMORE — A Thursday house fire left two families homeless on the night before Christmas.
Stacy Keser, daughter of homeowners David and Lynda Parish, said her parents and daughter were downstairs in their Military Road home when the fire started around 11 a.m.
“A man from Verizon was doing the phone line,” Keser said. “He was in the basement and he smelled smoke.”
Everyone downstairs was able to escape quickly, but Keser’s ex-husband and his six children who lived upstairs were trapped inside. Anatoliy Belous, who runs an auto shop next door to the home, said he came outside after smelling smoke.
“I heard the kids crying when I came out of the garage and saw what was happening,” Belous said. “There was smoke everywhere.”
The family piled onto the house’s second-story porch, where the Verizon employee was able to get a ladder up to them. Everyone inside the home when the fire started escaped, but a pet perished inside, said Brendan Keifer, assistant fire chief for the Kenmore Volunteer Fire Co. Due to the short staffing common to volunteer fire companies around the holidays, responders came from Kenmore, Ellwood, Kenliworth, Sheridan Park, River Road and Snyder volunteer fire companies.
“The fire definitely started in the basement, and we believe it was electrical,” Keifer said.
Once they were safely outside, the family faced new problems. Most of the children escaped only in pajamas, without any socks, shoes or winter clothing. But neighbors and other good Samaritans acted quickly, taking the family inside and finding articles of clothing to keep them warm.
“People have just been coming out of the woodwork, dropping off clothes and money and Christmas presents for the kids,” Keser said. “Perfect strangers have just been walking up to me asking how they can help. They’ve been a godsend.”
Keser’s father is living with terminal stomach cancer, and one of the children who lived upstairs is also battling the disease. Now the two families have to figure out where they’ll live, and Keser said living arrangements are anything but certain.
“My mom and dad are staying at a hotel and my daughter is at my house. The people upstairs, I don’t have a clue,” Keser said.
Anyone looking to help the family is asked to call 418-9376 or 694-0773.
Contact reporter Daniel Pyeat 693-1000, ext. 158.
