By Jeanne Sager
CALLICOON — March 22, 2002 – A two-alarm fire claimed the home of the Jennings family in Callicoon Tuesday morning.
The alarm went off mid-morning, sending volunteer fire departments from Callicoon, Jeffersonville and Hortonville scurrying to the trailer on Seminary Road.
The blaze was called in by owner Henry Hermann. The only occupants home at the time were a mother and her son. Both were unharmed. They were already out of the structure and waiting for emergency services to respond, said Callicoon Fire Chief Willy Maxwell.
“They were both fine,” he noted.
Five other children and their father were away from home at the time of the incident. According to Sullivan County Red Cross Director Bette Popovich, most of the children were at school.
The Callicoon Fire Department, first on the scene, was able to knock the blaze down within 15 minutes, Maxwell said. The outside of the structure remained intact, but cleanup took another hour and a half.
Despite the firefighters’ hard work, the house is uninhabitable, Maxwell said.
“The fire was confined to the kitchen, but there was a lot of smoke damage to the rest of the home,” he noted.
Contacted by the Sullivan County Emergency Control Center, Red Cross volunteer Al Frangipane, a member of the organization’s Disaster Action Team, responded to the scene of the fire to offer assistance to the family.
The Red Cross provides clients with vouchers for temporary shelter, food and clothing during crisis situations.
The Upper Delaware Volunteer Ambulance Corps also responded to the scene of the fire. The Equinunk, Pa. Volunteer Fire Department and North Branch Volunteer Fire Department were on standby.