Firefighters lauded for quick response to Derry Township day care fire

Rhiannon Radacosky raced out of work Wednesday after learning her 2-year-old son’s day care was on fire.

Because she is a volunteer firefighter with Derry Township VFD Co. No. 1 of Bradenville, she gets notifications on her cellphone for fire calls. This time, the fire was steps from her Wood Street house.

Radacosky was relieved to learn on the rushed drive home that Sawyer and the other children being cared for escaped unharmed. She was still a bit shaken while Sawyer played on the front porch of their home after the fire was out.

“I went (to the day care) when I was a kid and I’m 32 … it’s been around for awhile,” she said. “That’s why we sent my son there, because I trusted them when I was little, my parents did, so that’s why we stuck with them, and yeah, she’s fantastic.”

Firefighters were called to Derry Township just before 11 a.m. Wednesday for a reported house fire with possible entrapment. Flames spread from a home to a separate building behind it on the property, said Deputy Chief Nick Piantine. A sign on the property indicated the additional building was Dornie & Lori’s House Day Care.

Everyone was able to get out of both structures on their own, he said. No injuries were reported but the home and day care were destroyed. The blaze may have started on an exterior porch of the house. A state police fire marshal was investigating.

“We actually called a lot more units than we usually do due to everything that was going on and how many buildings that were on fire,” Piantine said.

Two witnesses reported hearing an explosion before the fire started. About 10 children were shuttled across the street to safety.

Knowing everyone had escaped, firefighters turned their attention to preventing the fire from spreading to additional houses, he said.

Neighbor Ronald Fetterman said he heard an explosion and saw flames underneath the side porch. As soon as firefighters got there, they put water on his house. The siding was melted from the heat but it was still standing.

“They saved our house,” he said.

Fetterman got his dog outside and two cats were harder to corral but safe in the basement.

“It was hot enough it busted the windows,” said his girlfriend, Tina Ferry. “The only thing I’m worried about is the kids, everything else can be replaced.”

Neighbor Cory Mundorf also said he heard an explosion and saw the side of the home on fire.

“Luckily all the kids got out,” he said.

Lori’s House Day Care is licensed through the state for a maximum capacity of 12 children, according to Department of Human Services records.

Radacosky said she’s thankful for the area’s firefighters.

“I am very grateful for the volunteers and Unity Township has their (firefighters) paid during the day, so that’s fantastic to have a paid service that’s here as well,” she said. Unity Township Bureau of Fire last year started paying daytime duty crews to be at the station for a prompt response time when many volunteers are working.

Her son, Sawyer, has been going to the day care since he was 12 weeks old and Radacosky said she doesn’t intend to stop sending him.

“Luckily, Lori said that she’ll continue to watch them so we’re going to go with that,” Radacosky said. “Clearly, she cares enough to get our kids out of the fire so I would very much trust her with my son. Hopefully she rebuilds and, if not, I trust her to watch him right across the street at her house.”