BY ARLENE JOHNS
JOHNSTOWN — It was a sight television news personality Sherry Stalley-Frear and her police captain husband, Andy Frear, had seen many times.
Charred photographs on blackened walls, melted baby dolls laying on water-soaked carpets, broken windows – remnants of lives torn apart by a house fire.
But this time it was personal.
The Frears’ home on Curtis Drive in Richland Township burned Feb. 17 when a lamp cord apparently got too hot and caught fire.
The captain was teaching at the police academy at the Greater Johnstown Career & Technology Center and the couple’s 12-year-old son, Drew, was at basketball practice. Stalley-Frear and her young daughter were in the basement playing when a smoke detector sounded.
Neither was alarmed. It happened rather frequently and usually meant nothing more than burnt toast.
After ignoring it a few moments, Stalley-Frear decided to investigate.
When she opened the door from the basement, she was met with thick black smoke billowing around the ceiling.
She quickly slammed the door shut and headed back downstairs, where she called 911.
Then she remembered the family pets, trapped upstairs in the toxic fumes.
Not realizing the danger, 8-year-old Jessica took off up the stairs to get her beloved pets.
Stalley-Frear said she literally tackled the child on the stairs to keep her from opening the door.
Firefighters later told her that most likely saved their lives.
“Because there was fresh oxygen down there and those fumes, it would have knocked us backwards and they would have found us on the stairs,” Stalley said. “We probably would not have known what hit us.”
Stalley and her daughter quickly exited their home, facing temperatures in the teens and 4 feet of snow.
Jessica wore only a nightshirt, so Stalley sent her running to a neighbor’s home while she remained behind in an attempt to rescue the pets.
Before she could open the front door to call them, she was stopped by the 911 operator, still on the telephone, who instructed her to wait for the firemen.
Opening the door could have resulted in a backdraft, Stalley-Frear was later told.
Temperatures in the home had reached 1,000 degrees, melting lightbulbs and everything made of plastic.
In less than four minutes, the trucks screamed into the driveway and took over the rescue attempt.
Against the odds, the two sooty puppies and a terrified cat were brought from the home.
Frear heard about the fire when a cousin called him while he was on break. He rushed home.
Firefighters quickly knocked down the fire, but the interior of the home was beyond repair.
Nearly everything the family had gathered in 11 years in the home had been destroyed.
“It was as if I had just lost a piece of my life,” Stalley said. “The feeling was of pure devastation.”
The home was insured and is being gutted and rebuilt.
Although the family is living in a hotel now and was able to salvage a only few boxes of personal items, they consider themselves fortunate.
“I would not trade everything inside that house for what I have right now,” Stalley-Frear said. “I have my family. I understand now what life is all about.”
Frear said the fire emphasizes the importance of working smoke detectors.
“Being downstairs, it could have been a while (before they realized the house was on fire),” he said.
“Have your smoke detectors working. You never know when it could happen.”
The police captain also believes having a way out of the basement is essential.
“If we wouldn't have, it would have been really bad,” he said.
The couple has been overwhelmed by many acts of kindness since the fire.
Their employers, fellow police officers, firefighters, neighbors and even strangers have come to their aid.
They have been given gift cards, food, toys and clothing.
“The phone calls started that night and haven’t stopped,” Stalley-Frear said. “It is the most incredible feeling that I have ever felt.”
