ROBINSON TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A local family is trying to pick up the pieces after a fire tore through their home Saturday morning.
Lareesha Coleman said the day started like any other.
She told Channel 11 her sons had gone out to breakfast with their stepfather while she stayed home with her daughter.
“As I was brushing my teeth, I smelled like something was burning, like an iron smell,” Coleman said.
She said she went downstairs and found the dryer engulfed in flames.
Fire crews responded to the home shortly before 11:30 a.m.
Coleman said she tried to put the fire out herself, but the smoke quickly became overwhelming.
“I came back down to see if I could put it out, but by the time I came, the whole front of the smoke had came down, so I couldn’t,” she said.
The family escaped safely, but the damage left behind is extensive.
Windows are now boarded up, and many of the family’s belongings were destroyed.
“We literally finally got all of our TVs back in our house, our couches back, our everything back together, and now it’s all gone,” Coleman said.
Right now, the Red Cross is helping the family find temporary assistance.
But Coleman said some things cannot be replaced, including sentimental keepsakes damaged in the fire.
“All my stuff, special stuff, was down there, my teddy bear from my first 14-year-old sister, and now my second 14-year-old sister’s face is all burned up due to this,” she said.
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