Last night a policeman knocked on my door and asked for my daughter I explained that she didn't live here any more and was residing in New York and asked if I could help.
He told me our town was giving my daughter a merit citation for her part in helping to save a neighbor's house from burning down at Easter.
We were walking the dogs around the corner when my daughter called out, "Mom, look, a chair is ablaze on Krauss's porch!" I looked up and sure enough, the wicker furniture on my neighbor's house was burning in a regular bonfire.
The flames were peeling the ceiling off the porch and had in seconds gone from one chair to the whole set ablaze!
I noticed a window open and the car in the drive-way, so I rushed up to the door and banged on it, ringing the bell and calling out to see if anyone was at home, possibly sleeping late. It was about 10:00 am. No one answered so while my daughter called 911 and gave the report, I ran to the neighbors.
One man, Mark, came out with a fire extinguisher, and another from across the street, with the assistance of a woman from another house across the street, found the hose and turned it on. Between the hose and the fire extinguisher, by the time the fire truck came, the blaze was out. The firemen checked the house in case the fire had gone in through the window that had broken out from the heat, or in case it had gotten into the porch roof.
The Policeman at my door had been the first responder. They arrived just a couple of minutes after my daughter's call.
Just last year, in March, my sister's house had burned to the ground because the fire got into the roof and walls where the hoses couldn't get to it, so I knew how lucky it was that we happened to be passing at just that moment, in time to save the house.
As it happens, it was Mrs. Krauss who had called me on the phone at school, 31 years ago to tell me about a cute house around the corner where she could just picture me and my (then) little girl. I went over at lunch, with the help of a friend who had a car, and got the phone number of the Realtor and made an offer, full price and points! The rest is history.
I have lived here all those years in peace and harmony and I can honestly say I LOVE this town! Mt. Ephraim is a wonderful small town with kind and helpful neighbors (at least on my street for sure) and it is an honor for me to go to Borough Hall and receive the citation for my daughter. I am so glad she saw the fire and made the call and we could save the home of the people who made it possible for us to live in this great small town for all these years. I hope I can stay here for the rest of my life..
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