Family home gutted by blaze
EAST BRADY, Clarion County — Just days after opening Christmas gifts, a borough family lost everything to an apparent electrical fire Monday.
Flames, smoke, water and ash filled the Slaughenhoupts’ two-and-a-half story house at 805 First Ave.
Everyone made it out safely, including the family pit bull.
“With just the clothes on our back,” said Stacey Slaughenhoupt, 46, still outfitted in her pajamas and standing on the street about a block away.
Because school is on holiday break, and there was a run of flu in the family, the house was full of people in the morning, including Stacey Slaughenhoupt, who works in the Karns City High School cafeteria.
Also home were her husband, Mike, who works for Bradys Bend Township but was home ill; her 5-year-old twin boys; her 7-year-old son; and her 17-year-old daughter. Her mother, 78-year-old Marge Bailey, lives in the basement and also was home.
Everyone was sort of recovering and watching television around 10:30 a.m.
Slaughenhoupt said she went downstairs to check on her mother, who has a lung disease, when she first realized something was wrong. Her mother’s refrigerator wasn’t running. The food was warm. The light was off.
Slaughenhoupt said she went to the electrical box to flip on the appropriate breaker. It buzzed and flipped back off.
Then one of the boys, who was a floor above her, yelled that the bathroom was on fire. An electrical outlet at about eye level was in flames.
The family focused its energy on calling 911 and helping Bailey get up the steps and out of the house. They didn’t have time to grab clothing, food or family heirlooms. The kids saved the dog and had been clutching two of three Curio tablets they just got for Christmas and a toy Fluttershy doll.
And at the end of the day, that’s about all they had left.
“It’s bad,” said East Brady Fire Chief Philip Beabout, who noted that by the time the first responders arrived, the rear of the home, where the bathroom is located, already was engulfed in flames.
“Flames were rolling out the windows pretty good,” he said.
Firefighters from Chicora, Rimersburg, Sugarcreek and Sligo pitched in on the effort. The rear and attic of the home were burned out. The rest of the house suffered heavy water and smoke damage.
State police in Clarion estimated the damage at about $100,000. Police reported the fire was accidental due to an electrical malfunction.
Slaughenhoupt said the family’s insurance was paying for them to spend a night at a Holiday Inn. But after that, she was unsure where everyone would live.
The house has been her mother’s home since the 1960s. Stacey Slaughenhoupt moved back only about four years ago to help out her mother when her father died.
“This is the house where I grew up,” she said. “And it’s gutted. It’s unlivable.”
