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Fire torches George house
Chuck Allen/editor@qvpr.com
John and Mary Lynn Huntwork’s daughter, Alissa Herbst, holds her son, Daryn, while she and family friend Jessie Diaz look through a small collection of photographs on Tuesday that were salvaged from the fire which destroyed her parents’ home on Sunday, July 11.
Mary Lynn Huntwork and her family were faced with the sad task of picking up the pieces on Tuesday after a fire gutted their George home Sunday, July 11.
There were few things that weren’t burned or damaged by smoke, including Mary Lynn’s wedding dress, which had been hanging in a closet on the side of the house opposite of where the fire was most intense.
Tears, which by then were mostly used up, once again flowed freely down Mary Lynn’s face as her daughter showed her the white dress and how it had been blackened in places by the smoke.
“You think you’re fine,” Mary Lynn said, wiping her eyes dry. “And then it just hits you all over again.”
The family had fire insurance and many of their possessions can be replaced, but things like wedding dresses, photos and treasured family heirlooms cannot.
“We lost almost everything,” Mary Lynn said.
But she was quick to add that she and her family are grateful they were personally protected.
“Thank God for that,” she said. “It could have been much worse.”
The cause of the fire, which started in the front of the family’s doublewide mobile home at 125 E. Montemorency, is still under investigation.
Mary Lynn’s husband, John, noticed the smoke about 3 p.m.
“I thought it was dust from the wind,” John said. “Then I got closer and realized it wasn’t dust.”
He and his two sons, Mickey and Michael, exited through the back door carrying only the clothes on their backs.
Firefighters were able to keep the building from being burned to the ground, but the smoke and heat caused extensive damage that will likely result in a total loss, said Tony Leibelt, Grant County Fire District No. 3 assistant chief.
Mary Lynn, who is on the George City Council and is active in a number of civic and church organizations, was traveling home from a conference and received the phone call from one of her sons as she neared Preston on Interstate 90.
“He said, ‘Mom, it’s all gone,’ ” Mary Lynn recalled. “I asked him what he meant and he told me that the house was gone. It was a long two-hour drive after that news.”
For now, the family is staying with John and Mary Lynn’s daughter, Alissa Herbst, in Ephrata. They were making contact with their insurance company, the Red Cross and their church on Tuesday afternoon. A fund has also been set up at Wheatland Bank for donations to help the family cover expenses. (Checks should be made out to the John and Mary Lynn Huntwork Fire Relief Fund.)
Their most immediate need is clothing and food. They also require short-term housing while a permanent solution is worked out.
“We’re not sure yet what we’re going to do,” Mary Lynn said about the family’s plans. “But we’ll let God decide.”
