Early Morning New Sharon Fire Leaves Family Homeless
This is what remains of the home of Chad and Christine Howard in rural New Sharon
New Sharon, Iowa – At about 4:30 am rural New Sharon resident Chad Howard awoke to what sounded like hail hitting the air conditioner. He now assumes it was the fire crackling. The fire department was quickly on scene. “When your waiting on them, it seems longer, they were here pretty darn quick”, Christine Howard said of the response time from local firefighters.
“I was asleep downstairs. Like I said, I thought I heard what sounded like hail popping off the metal air conditioner. I got up, and those 3 big windows in the living room, I could see a glow. Like I said, I just woke up. It’s like, what the heck is that? I walked out onto the porch and the whole outside wall was engulfed. The porch was engulfed and the smoke was starting to billow into the porch. I figured I got to get people out. I went and woke her [Christine] up. She leaves her phone on, so I told her to call 911. Came back downstairs and woke our son [Zach] up. Out we came and he tried to use a garden hose.”, Chad Howard recalled about those moments when the fire was discovered.
What appears to be a photo album didn't escape the flames that destroyed the home of Chad and Christine Howard Friday morning
Chad said he was awake from a little before 2 am and went back to bed around 3:15 am and he didn’t smell smoke or see anything then.
Chad, Christine and their son Zack all made it out of the home safely. New Sharon Fire, Barnes City Fire, and Oskaloosa Fire Departments along with assistance from Mahaska County Emergency Management and the Mahaska County Sheriffs Office were at the scene for several hours. The home is located near the intersection of 135th Street and Niland Ave., southeast of New Sharon.
Christine who wears glasses was using a borrowed pair of glasses because hers were lost in the fire. “I apologize for my book room upstairs, as that was where most of the heat was at; once it got going.” Christine asked us to pass this apology along to the firefighters who worked to put out the blaze.
The family at this point has lost everything. When I met with them this morning they had borrowed clothes on, and even borrowed glasses because of how quickly they left the home.
If you would like to help the Howard family, donations are being accepted in the New Sharon area at 305 West High Street [Ralphi Munson] and also in Oskaloosa at the Red Cross, located in the United Way Building. Christine wears size 12 pants, shirts L or XL, size 7.5 shoes. Zach and Chad wear the same size 32X34 pants, Med or Large shirts, shoe size 10.
