Claremont and Unity emergency responders help members touched by house fire
By MEGHAN PIERCE
Union Leader Correspondent
January 12. 2018 12:23AM
The Scruggs family of Claremont lost their belongings in a house fire Monday. (Courtesy)
CLAREMONT — The Unity Fire Department, Golden Cross Ambulance and the Professional Firefighters of Claremont NH Local 1571 are working to help a family of three who lost everything in a fire on Monday.
The residents, Joe and Mindy Scruggs, and their 3-year-old daughter, lost most of their possessions in the fire, as well as their two pets, a cat and dog.
Joe and Mindy Scruggs, have close ties to the emergency service community.
“Joe and Mindy both work for our local EMS service (Golden Cross Ambulance) and Joe serves as a volunteer firefighter in Unity,” said Jimmy Chamberlain, Claremont firefighter and president of the Professional Firefighters of Claremont.
“The support from the community has been extremely humbling,” said Chamberlain.
Firefighters responded to a basement fire at the single family home on Camden Avenue Monday afternoon.
The animals appeared to have died from smoke inhalation, Claremont Fire Capt. Chris Pixley said Tuesday.
The basement fire was quickly doused by the responding firefighters; however, heat and smoke damage to the home has displaced the family and destroyed their belongings.
“Losing your home to a fire is a devastating experience. Yesterday, we responded to a fellow emergency worker’s residence for a building fire. While the fire was mostly contained to one area of the residence, most of the house sustained heavy smoke and water damage,” Chamberlain said in a plea for clothing and toiletries following the fire.
In only a few days these items were collected at several drop-off spots in Claremont.
“We are still accepting donations at this time, however, the biggest help will come in the form of gift cards,” Chamberlain said.
“We delivered them a load of goods today, which included toiletries, clothing and other basic essentials. Items for the family or gift cards can currently be dropped off at the Claremont Fire Department located at 100 Broad St.”
A friend of the couple, Kelly Benoit, has also started a GoFundMe account to help them at www.gofundme.com/the-scruggs-house-fire-help.
