Woman escapes blaze
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Neighbors came to the aid of a woman whose mobile home caught fire Monday night at the Lake Arthur Estates trailer park in the township.
“She was pretty hysterical but she got out OK,” said Charles Carey, who lives next door to Edith Byers.
Byers, however, was left temporarily homeless after the blaze just after 8 p.m. badly damaged her singlewide trailer on Robbie Way.
No one was injured in the fire that apparently started in a storage shed and spread to a vacant double-wide trailer that was next to Byers' home. The flames spread to her mobile home.
The state police fire marshal's office is investigating. Police were unavailable for comment this morning.
Carey, who has been Byers' next door neighbor for eight years, said he was watching television when he heard “a lot of yelling” coming from outside.
“I went out to look and the place was on fire,” he said.
Flames had engulfed the shed and had taken hold of the double-wide trailer on the same lot. No one has lived on that property for about two years, neighbors said.
“The fire was coming out the roof of the double-wide,” Carey said.
That trailer sat 40 yards away on the south side of his mobile home.
“I think the fire was just starting to catch onto her trailer when I first saw it,” he said.
Several Good Samaritans quickly moved in and assisted Byers out of her house and down a handicapped-accessible ramp, authorities said.
Neighbors said the woman has lived there for more than 10 years. She reportedly lives alone and has a dog and cat.
“I know the dog got out but I don't know about the cat,” Carey said.
Firefighters from at least three departments arrived and used hydrants at the trailer park to knock down the flames.
The shed and double-wide were destroyed. Byers' trailer was badly damaged.
“It's half burned,” Carey said.
Byers later left with relatives that night. She and family returned this morning and were seen removing items from the damaged mobile home.
