Mother, daughter rescued from Hanover fire
Fire officials stand in the living room of the front apartment at 423 Carlisle St. in Hanover as they investigate the cause of the blaze that destroyed the house. Firefighters rescued a mother and daughter from the home. (Daily Record/Sunday News – James Robinson)It was a fire unlike any other that Hanover firefighter Jeff Spielman has experienced in 35 years of service.
But it wasn’t the flames or smoke that struck him as he arrived at a home in the 400 block of Carlisle Street in the borough Tuesday morning.
Two people outside the house flagged down the first responders and drew their attention to the woman and young child leaning out of a second-floor window on the side of the house, in need of rescue.
The fire on the first floor had trapped tenant Beronica Sosa and her 2-year-old daughter, Joselyn Robledo, in their second-floor bedroom.
Using a ladder, Spielman quickly rescued the child first and then brought her mother to safety. Both were treated by EMS crews at the scene but were uninjured, Hanover Fire Commissioner James Roth said.
“In 35 years, it was the first time I had to do a rescue,” Spielman said after the fire.
Fire crews closed Carlisle Street near the 400 block from the time of the initial call at 7:39 a.m. to 9 a.m.
The fire started in the living room of the front apartment unit of the home, which is rented by Sosa and her husband Migual Angel Roberto, Roth said. Another family lives in the back unit of the house, which was not damaged by the fire, he added. Sosa’s family is being assisted by the Greater Hanover Chapter of the American Red Cross.
The fire was caused by a lit candle left unattended on the mantle of a closed fireplace, Roth said.
The candle melted down and the fire spread quickly through the living room before it “burned itself out” and smoldered, he said.Heat and smoke traveled into the hallway next to the living room and up the stairs, although the fire was contained to the living room, Roth said.
The stairs lead to the front door – the only exit in the front unit – and Sosa and her daughter were upstairs.
“They couldn’t get down,” Roth said.
But once they were rescued, fire crews from Hanover, Penn Township and Southeastern Adams Volunteer Emergency Services had no issues controlling the fire, since it was mostly smoldering by then, Roth said.
The fire was out in a matter of minutes, but the living room sustained significant damage. An ash-covered rocking horse and a blackened teddy bear rested on the wet carpet, surrounded by charred walls and furniture, as fire crews finished inspecting the house.
The stairway also sustained heat and smoke damage, bringing the total damage to at least $50,000, Roth said.
