An Old Home Saved

To the Editor:

We owe our home to Officer Christopher Vadis, first to spot the fire at our Big Yellow House March 15. Our gratitude extends to his co-workers, George Sinko and Mary Ellen McCarthy, who appeared so swiftly and attempted to quell the fire themselves with a garden hose, pulling potentially flammable mowers and such away from the house.

It’s a comfort to have a fire plug in the front yard. But it would have been of little use, had not hordes of firemen, all volunteers from Hook and Ladder, Sandy Hook and Hawleyville companies, turned up instantly and contained the fire to the back porch of our home, sparing us heartache.

Our thanks, too, to the members of the Newtown Ambulance crew, again volunteers, who treated a really distraught mother and daughter with Band-Aids and kindness.

We appreciate the compassion of the police officer who opened the pound later that same night so our neighbor and friend, Lillian Weingast, could liberate her beloved, ailing Rottweiler, Lady, who’d been taken there for safekeeping.

It will take some time to sort out the mess. But in the confusion we remember how fortunate we are, and we remember those to whom we are so grateful.

Sincerely,

Lourdes and James Haynes

17 Main Street                                March 29, 2001