Rebuild My Father’s Home
At around 3:15 am, my brother was awoken by an overwhelming heat after falling asleep on the couch watching tv in the basement of my parents split level home in McDonald, PA. The basement was engulfed in flames. He ran to the stairs to try to get to my mother who was asleep on the couch in the living room directly above him. He instinctually grabbed the railing of the stairs which gave him third degree burns on the palm of his right hand. He yelled for my mother but he could not make it upstairs because the heat was too intense. The fleece he was wearing caught fire. He ran to the garage door, grabbed the doorknob, burning his hand once again. He opened the door, which fueled the blaze and ultimately blew out the 4’x8′ picture window above the front door, closed the door behind him and exited the house through the garage. He ripped the fleece off of him and rolled on the gravel driveway to put out the rest of the flames. A neighbor called 911, my brother was unable to because his phone was in he house. He stood outside in the 14 degree weather in nothing but gym shorts. My father was at work at the time working second shift for the Pittsburgh Port Authority as a supervisor. He was informed of this by the Port Authority Police. I was asleep at my apartment in Cleveland and was awoken by my frantic father at 4:12 am. The fire department was on the scene and my mother could not be found.
I packed some things, called off of work for the next 3 days and headed home. The 2 hour drive turned into 3 because, on the drive, I blew the turbo in my Subaru. I arrived at the house at roughly 10am to witness a total loss. Nothing was left standing besides the chimney and my father’s gun safe, that was in the basement. I hugged my father, for what seemed like an eternity. My brother was sent to Mercy hospital in Pittsburgh. He received second and third degree burns to his entire right arm and hand, half of his left arm, back and nose. He spent the next 8 days in the burn unit and, after receiving skin grafts, he was discharged the day of my mother’s funeral, the day after his birthday(March 8th).
A mere 4 hours after hearing of this, Candra Squire, the wife of Cleveland comic and Ron & Fez guest Bill Squire, started an online fundraiser to help my family. Bill also orchestrated a benefit comedy show at Reddstone in Cleveland. Every cent of these fundraisers is going to help my father rebuild his home. He plans on taking everything down to the footer and starting new.
Any help that you could give would be greatly appreciated. TinyURL.com/PelcFamily
Thank you,
Jason Pelc
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