Fire fears confirmedBy MICHAEL LESTER
Press Enterprise Writer
HEMLOCK TWP. — When Melanie Engelhardt saw thick gray smoke billowing into the sky while leaving Wal-Mart yesterday, she couldn't help but notice the smoke was rising right around the area of where her house would be.
Melanie pointed out the smoke to her mom, Sharon Engelhardt, and they decided to delay lunch plans at Perkins to make the 2-mile drive to check on the home.
Along the way, Sharon asked her daughter if she had blown out a candle in the bathroom. Sharon also remembered she had left a clothes dryer running.
When the women arrived at 149 Frosty Valley Road shortly after 2 p.m., they found several fire trucks lining the road and over 50 volunteer firefighters from at least six departments spraying water into the windows of their farmhouse.
With neighbors at their sides comforting them, Sharon and Melanie stood watching tearfully in their yard for hours as flames destroyed the four-bedroom home on 20 acres Sharon and husband Robert bought three years ago for $300,000...
...Sharon and Melanie speculated the dryer or the bathroom candle may have started the fire. Neither could remember for sure if the candle was lit when they left. But Sharon was certain the clothes dryer was running. She had been washing clothes to donate to Goodwill. "I'm so heartbroken," Sharon said. "I don't know what we're gonna do."...
As she watched firefighters spray water at flames rising inside her second-story bedroom window, Melanie thought about the $1,500 in baby-sitting and gift money she had saved up. She kept it in the attic. Surely it was gone, Melanie figured. She also thought about her new laptop and clothes.
Sharon thought of Melanie's baby photos and the pictures taken every year at the Bloomsburg Fair of Melanie posing with animals. Sharon said she'll also miss her picture of Mother Teresa. "This is stuff you can't replace," Sharon lamented.
Contact Reporter Michael Lester at 387-1234, ext. 1311 or at mike.l@pressenterprise.net.
