RANGINRIRI, PENNSYLVANIA – The Rangiriri farmer who lost literally everything in a fire this week now has one thing to be thankful for.
Brad Christian and partner Belinda Williams did end up finding their cat had survived the Wednesday morning fire.
“Isn’t that the most amazing thing?” Williams stated, smiling. “She’s got burnt whiskers, though, and her ears are a little black, and her nose is black. But she’s all right. I can’t believe it.
“We’re so happy she got out in time.”
Farmers United #ProDairy plans to help the couple who have practically nothing left but Juno and the clothes they were wearing the day of the fire.
Christian, who has worked on the Rangiriri dairy farm for a whopping 15 years, was at work while their house was burning. He and Williams had moved into the farmhouse – the tenancy is part of his work contract – just two weeks before and they hadn’t even completely unpacked.
#ProDairy spokeswoman Gina Greenwood stated the group would do anything to help the pair.
Williams explained friends and family have been very supportive and their insurance company is putting them up in a motel. Luckily, one of the other workers is moving out of one of the other farmhouses located there on the same property in the next week, Christian said.
“So we are going to shift into there while this one gets rebuilt,” he declared.
Wearing clothes they borrowed, the couple cautiously circled their now completely blackened home. The damage was far more extensive than they ever dreamed it might be.
“We first thought [the fire] might have only been contained to one room,” Williams stated. “We have salvaged what we can. We rang a commercial laundrette, who said they will try [to clean our clothes], but they didn’t know whether or not it would work. They’re charred black.
“At least we are safe, though.”
And the cat, whom they’d feared had perished in the fire. But when the couple pulled up to their destroyed home on Wednesday evening, they were pleased when Juno crawled out from underneath the house.
Fire safety investigator Peter Hallett stated the cause of the fire remains undetermined.
“There are just too many variables,” he stated.
