Owners of Vandergrift home destroyed in blaze thankful to be alive

Robert Harvey Mills and his wife Caroel Mills watched a fire destroy their Vandergrift home of 51 years Thursday morning.

They helplessly stood by as their their home on Holland Street burned — along with two neighboring houses. Still, the couple said they’re thankful to be alive, and determined not to let fond memories in their longtime home be lost after the fire.

“It feels like we’re planning a funeral,” Robert Mills, a retired pastor, said of the loss of his home.

“I just praise God we’re not planning for a funeral,” his wife said.

The fire began at their neighbor’s house and spread to their home and another house early Thursday morning. All three homes are considered total losses. There were no injuries and the impacted families are receiving help from Red Cross. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

For the Mills family, the loss still felt unreal as they sat on their back porch Friday morning. They couldn’t ignore the lingering smell of smoke and clearly visible fire damage. Caroel Mills said she kept hoping she would soon wake up and realize it was all a bad dream.

Robert Mills, a Vietnam Army veteran, woke up Thursday morning to the sound of knocking on his neighbor’s door, followed by a loud explosion. When he saw that the fire had already spread to their home, he woke his wife and they rushed outside.

“The smoke had really engulfed the living room,” he said. “We got out and just watched it burn.”

The couple raised their two sons in the home. A door frame upstairs was adorned with marks showing her sons’ heights as they grew.

“It’s hard. Our children were born here. We have a lot of memories here,” Caroel Mills said. “I can see our oldest son taking his first steps — I still see that in the living room.”

She said she was hopeful that she might be able to salvage some family photos from the house, even if they were damaged. Most of their possessions, she said, are ruined — but what matters is they’re alive, and so are their memories.

“Everything’s just black,” she said. “But we thank God that we are alive.”

For several years, the couple spent most of their time at a second home in New Castle, where Robert Mills was a pastor at St. Paul Baptist Church. After he retired, they returned to their Vandergrift home in August.

“Mom missed her home,” Bobby Mills, their son, said, explaining his mother was born and raised in Vandergrift.

While they had been away, Bobby Mills had taken care of the family home. Caroel Mills said he used to sleep in a bedroom that was entirely destroyed by the fire.

The couple isn’t sure what they’ll do now that the home they spent much of their lives in has been destroyed.

“That’s the question mark — where do we go from here?” Robert Mills said.

They plan to stay in the Vandergrift area.

“I know it’ll be OK,” Robert Mills said. “I’m not going to have a pity party.”

He said they’re grateful for the community support, which he called loving and unbelievable. A friend from New Castle, Lisa Burley, is raising money to help the couple. Anyone looking to help can reach her at 724-714-7174. She said she hopes to have a Go Fund Me page started soon.

“We lost our home. We lost our possessions. But we didn’t lose our memories. We didn’t lose our hope,” Robert Mills said.