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Reno family loses home to fire

Photo by Janelle Patterson Reno Fire Chief Dan Ritchey revisits the fire ruins of the Hill-Neville home Monday, which suffered an electrical fire Sunday.

Though an electrical fire displaced a Reno family over the weekend, community response to meet their needs has left both neighbors and first responders proud.

“It was scary,” said Lyle Smith, 59, a neighbor of Joey Hill and Rachel Neville.

Smith called 911 when he first saw the flames Sunday morning.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever called 911. I talked with the Washington County Sheriff’s Office and they sent the Reno fire department in minutes,” he said. “They got here fast.”

The fire broke out at 1750 Browns Road just before 7:30 a.m. Sunday and according to Reno Fire Chief Dan Ritchey, moved quickly.

“The back porch was completely engulfed in flames in a few minutes,” said Ritchey. “It was coming in the back door when the man of the house found it and got his four kids out with Rachel (Neville).”

Ritchey said the incident was ruled an electrical fire sparked from an over-loaded electrical strip on the back porch.

“The kids were pretty upset and the family lost just about everything,” said Ritchey. “But we put it out on our Facebook to gather donations and money to help them get back on their feet and got them into a rental yesterday.”

Smith said the American Red Cross also had volunteers on-site by early afternoon Sunday and the Salvation Army reported Monday they had received a message from the sheriff’s office for aid.

“We can do clothing and food, and we have some housewares for them and some toys for the children,” explained Megan Barker, office assistant for the Marietta Salvation Army. “The sheriff’s office left a message for us (Sunday).”

And friends of the family, Melissa and Benjamin Arnold, launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to aid the family in recovery from the fire Sunday.

“Joey Hill, Rachel Neville and their four children lost everything in a house fire,” wrote Benjamin in launching the online fundraising campaign. “Thankfully, no one was injured. Let’s band together as a community and help this family try to get back to normal.”

The goal for the fundraiser is $5,000, with donors ranging in contributions Sunday and Monday from $25 to one anonymous $500 donation.

“We want to make the transition as simple as we could, the house wasn’t insured so this family is starting from scratch,” said Ritchey. “And we almost had two houses on fire with how hot it got. Part of the house next door lost vinyl siding because of the heat.”

Janelle Patterson can be reached at jpatterson@mariettatimes.com.

How to help:

• An online fundraiser has been launched to help the Hill-Neville family recover from Sunday’s fire.

• Donations can be made at http://bit.ly/RenoFireHelp.

Source: Times research.

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