MONTGOMERY - A multiple-alarm blaze late Friday night hit home for a Montgomery Fire Co. couple who were at the firehouse, along with several other members, when a series of emergency tones went out over the radio and a dispatcher reported an apartment house on fire at Sixth and Broad streets.
The back of 121-123 Broad St. was engulfed in flames at 10:40 p.m. when Danielle Bryson, president of the fire company's ladies auxiliary, arrived at the three-story apartment building where her father, Daniel Lynch, lives.
She had raced to the scene in her personal vehicle, while her firefighter husband, Kevin, drove one of the first fire trucks to arrive at the fire.
"I kind of went into shock," Bryson told a reporter a day after the fire, which extensively damaged the property that her father owns. Lynch, who lives in the 121 side, was at his place of employment, Kopper's in Clinton Township, at the time of the fire.
He rented the 123 side to Lisa Kepner, who lived there with her boyfriend and her two children, ages 9 and 11. They too were not home at the time. A third apartment on the top floor was vacant.
After reaching her father on his cell phone at work, Bryson told him frantically "Dad, you need to come home. You're house is on fire."
Bryson and her father hugged one another when they spotted each other shortly after Lynch pulled up at the scene.
"He told me 'We know everyone is safe. We have our memories. They can be held forever,' " Bryson said.
A neighbor on Wagner Avenue called 911 after seeing the fire.
Another neighbor, Jan Vogelsong, told a reporter that the heat from the blaze was so intense it drove her back into her home.
"The whole back of the house was engulfed in flames. I went to open my back porch door, and I couldn't go any further because of the heat. It also was getting all smokey. I took a handkerchief and covered my nose," Vogelsong said.
Kepner, apparently notified of the fire by a friend on her cell phone, soon arrived on the scene. Tears streamed down her face as she watched all her family's possessions go up in flames.
Bryson said such an experience can be emotionally overwhelming for anyone.
Borough Fire Chief Brad Harding, who was also at the fire station when the alarm came in, said firefighters could see "smoke and fire" a little more than a block away from the apartment house.
Besides Montgomery and Clinton Township fire companies, additional equipment and manpower were dispatched from several communities, including Washington Township, South Williamsport, Muncy, Hughesville, Warrior Run and Loyalsock Township.
Lynch and Kepner's family were staying with relatives or friends. Bryson said her father, who had insurance, did not know if the building could be saved. Harding set damage in excess of $100,000.
