Air Force vet gets new furnace
MUDDY CREEK TWP — A veteran living without a working furnace in her home this winter received a new one Saturday, hours before temperatures dropped to 10 degrees below zero.
Chris Blehi, a U.S. Air Force veteran, had the furnace installed in her Robbie Way home off Route 19.
The furnace came courtesy of the VFW and Gillece Services, a Bridgeville-based plumbing and heating company.
The company has installed six free furnaces this year for veterans across the region.
“My neighbor saw on the news that a veteran got a furnace and contacted Gillece through e-mail,” Blehi said. “It's an awesome thing Gillece does.”
Blehi's furnace broke Thanksgiving Day.
“I went to a friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner,” she said. “I got home, it was colder than heck in here. I've been dealing with it since then.”
Blehi has been using electric heaters to keep her home warm.
She keeps the majority of doors in her home shut to keep the heat in her living room. Her faucets are kept dripping with hopes of keeping her water pipes from freezing, although that has happened twice this year.
“Both times they froze, they were frozen for about four days,” she said.
Blehi has been going to a neighbor's to take warm showers. She brings water home in gallon jugs from her work in case of emergency.
“Everyone pitches in,” she said of her friends and neighbors. “I'm so appreciative. It's nice to know there are good people out there willing to help you.”
Jason Scholtz in particular is a neighbor Blehi thanked. He contacted Gillece about Blehi.
“He's a great guy,” Blehi said. “Anything I need, he'll help me with. And if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't have this furnace.”
Scholtz has been her next-door neighbor at Lake Arthur Estates for nearly five years.
He said this morning, “She kind of became part of the family.”
“A couple of months ago, (the furnace) started going on and off. I took a look at it for her and I couldn't figure it out,” Scholtz said.He said he and his fiance, Danielle Heathcote, brought in a technician who said it was a faulty circuit board.Scholtz said he and his fiance paid to have the circuit board replaced and later for a new regulator valve and other repairs.“But it got to the point where the guy said the whole furnace was gone,” he said.He said Blehi was heating her mobile home with “a couple of plug-in electric heaters and a portable oil heater.”Scholtz said he couldn't afford to pay for a new furnace, but he saw a promotion about helping veterans.“They pulled through. They put it in this Saturday, and I think they have to come back on Wednesday and put a chimney cap or something on the roof,” he said.Scholtz, who works for Keystone Clearwater Solutions in Zelienople, said, “I'm glad it all happened.”Blehi has lived in the home for six years. The Cranberry Township native lived in Nebraska for about three decades after serving in the Air Force from 1973 to 1977.Blehi said she was based in Michigan along Lake Superior during her time in the military. It was a time that prepared her for cold weather.“This is nothing compared to that,” she joked, adding vehicles on the base had to have heaters on them at night to prevent them from freezing solid. “It began snowing there in September and lasted until May.”The temperatures this past weekend, however, were comparable to even the harsh Michigan weather.The National Weather Service reported temperatures dropped below zero Saturday night, making Blehi's new furnace a timely installation. Sunday night temperatures also were below zero.“It's good to get things back to normal,” Blehi said Saturday morning. “I have to work at 5 a.m. tomorrow and its supposed to be below zero.”Eagle Focus editor Eric Freehling contributed to this report.
