Couple loses home to fire
by Peter Jakey, Managing Editor
A Tower couple is trying to put their lives back together after losing nearly all of their belongings in a house fire January 12 in the Village of Tower.
The one-story, one-bedroom structure, owned by Richie Miles and Brandi Bidwell, is beyond repair. The couple had no insurance.
The fire occurred on the same night of an Allis Township fire that gutted most of a mobile home being rented by Raymond Stiles and Alicia Riley. Both families have collection buckets in area stores.
?EVERYBODY HAS been very helpful, and really nice,? said Bidwell. ?There has been a lot of people helping us out.?
Donors have given them a couple of couches and a bed. Their TV was recovered, but they need everything else. That would include kitchen appliances, pots, pans, plates, silverware, dining room table, dressers, sheets, etc.
Temporary housing has been provided by family friend, Delbert Heythaler, who?s letting them live in a mobile home he owns until they get back on their feet.
Brandi was the only person in the house when the fire started at 1 p.m. ?I was taking a nap in the bedroom,? she said. ?I don?t know why, but I suddenly woke up and ran into the kitchen. There was stuff falling out of the ceiling on fire. I started trying to put it out.?
BIDWELL GRABBED whatever she could find and threw water on the fire. She believes neighbors called the fire department. ?They (neighbors) were coming in to get me out, but I went out on my own,? said Bidwell, who only had time to grab a pair of sandles. ?(The smoke) was pretty bad. It was bad enough to make me sick by the time I got out of there.?
Crews from the Forest-Waverly Fire Department, only a few blocks away, responded in just a few minutes.
The attic area and kitchen received the most damage, while everything in the house received sm
?The firemen grabbed some pictures of my brother (Clinton Todd) and brought them out,? she said. ?They knew that?s what would be most important, because they knew my brother, and that we lost him in July.?
Bidwell was later told by firefighters that she shouldn?t have stayed in and tried to put the fire out. ?I guess I shouldn?t have,? she said. ?They (firemen) said it could have electrocuted me, because it was an electrical fire.
The American Red Cross provided vouchers to purchase winter clothes, but other than the clothes on their back, everything else is gone.
Items can be dropped off by making arrangements with Audrey Bidwell at 989-306-4018.