Beach Park, Illinois family says plumber's heater burned their house down
BEACH PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- A family in far north suburban Beach Park has blamed a plumber for burning their house down after they called to have a frozen pipe fixed.
On Monday afternoon, the fire destroyed a unit in the Beach Park Mobile Homes community, at 38703 Sheridan Rd. The house was fully engulfed in flames and never-ending billows of smoke.
It had been home to Breon Pitts, Patricia Lear, and Willie Pitts.
"In a matter of minutes, my house was in flames," Lear said. "It was just totally burnt."
Lear said it all started Monday morning, when they had no water at all inside their mobile home. So she called the plumber.
"He told me that the wires, that the plumbing was frozen, so he said he had to put heaters under there," said Lear.
The family said the fire was started by a torpedo heater the plumber put under the house. It requires kerosene to start.
Lear said when the plumber stepped away, the fire started.
"So I see black smoke coming out of my closet," she said.
Lear said the home was an inferno for four hours.
The Beach Park Fire Department said it had to call around half a dozen other departments to assist.
Lear's home and the one next door were a total loss, and other neighbors were also left with damage to their houses. One woman and her charity are trying to help them out.
"This is their homes," Newman sad. "This is what they go back to every day."
Newman heads up the nonprofit Families Helping Families Chicagoland. She saw homes nearby had windows boarded up and siding melted.
Yet two nights after the fire, some people are still living in those houses.
"We were watching , following the scanner, and they were calling for more and more fire departments," Newman said, "and then there were three, and there were six, and then there were nine, and there were water pressure issues."
Newman said her nonprofit is trying to help the affected families and has already raised hundreds of dollars to get them new windows and necessities.
"Just imagining, you know, the idea that what could happen to my home and what my home can be like, and what my kids could deal with if something happens," she said.
As for Lear and her family, she said they are filing a lawsuit against the plumbing company. They are also staying with relatives as they try to figure out how to start over.
"This too shall pass one day. It's hard right now, but we'll be OK in the long run — as long as we're all here and we're all together," Lear said. "That is the blessing for us right now."