Fire leaves local family homeless
Texana – Tragedy greeted Carol Gostomsky and her partner, Nicholas Dickhaus, when they awoke Monday morning.
Gostomsky had the day off from her hotel job and took advantage by taking a painkiller for a toothache. The meds allowed her to finally fall asleep on the living room couch, while Dickhaus slept in the main bedroom.
All was quiet save for the sounds coming from the second bedroom, where they kept 17 cats and kittens of various ages, and by the front door where they kept their mom dog and her two nearly grown puppies.
Around lunchtime, fire broke out in the bedroom where Dickhaus was sleeping. Acrid smoke from the smoldering fire caused him to cough, a cough that woke him up and likely saved many lives.
But not all lives.
Smoke filled the two-bedroom single-wide mobile home on Texana Road near where it intersects with Joe Brown Highway. Dickhaus said he tried to extinguish the fire with water, but it only made the smoke worse.
He fled the room and woke Gostomsky from a deep sleep. Despite their panic and very little time, they managed to save two kittens and their dogs before thick smoke chased them outside.
Still inside were 15 more cats; about five survived in all, including the two Dickhaus carried with him – Angel and Cuddles – and two more brought to safety by firefighters.
On-duty paid firefighters with the Murphy Fire Department were on scene in under three minutes, with volunteer firefighters and more equipment starting to arrive just four minutes after the initial dispatch.
Thick gray smoke billowed out the front door and the window in the bedroom where the fire broke out as firefighters launched their attack. They took little time to knock down the main blaze, then searched for hot spots.
Already a warm day, heavily equipped firefighters’ endurance was put to the test. The first firefighters on scene took breaks and downed bottled water as fresh crews relieved them.
The firefighters kept the blaze from spreading from a bedroom and protected the rest of the building from complete destruction. They remained on scene afterward to salvage what belongings and valuables they could, snuff out remaining hot spots and search for any surviving cats.
Fire Chief Al Lovingood interviewed the couple a short time later and said the cause of the fire was probably accidental.
Firefighters were able to retrieve Gostomsky’s bag and medications, which were near the front door. Aside from that, and four cats and three dogs, the couple was left with little or nothing.
All Dickhaus had were the pajama bottoms he wore to bed and a towel he used to care for Cuddles and Angel. That which didn’t burn sustained smoke and water damage.
Lovingood contacted the American Red Cross to help the couple. The Red Cross provides an array of services for people in disaster situations, including lodging vouchers, clothing and other essentials.
Gostomsky is familiar with the Red Cross, as this is the second time she has been burned out of her home. The previous time was in a mobile home right next door.
Dickhaus lived at the location for just over six years, with Gostomsky joining him after his sister introduced them about five years ago, she said.
County tax records list the owner of the rental mobile home as Ingenious Global Properties LLC of Sudbury, Mass. Eight mobile homes are on the 1.4-acre property located between Joe Brown Highway, Texana Road and Ferguson Street.