Fire destroys Depew home

Tragedy struck on Sunday, July 11, as Tom and Chrissy Wilson, of Depew, watched their home burn to the ground. The Wilsons noticed the house on fire and called the Depew Fire Department at 12:38 a.m. The fire department showed up quickly, within five minutes, but the house was already in flames.

Tom was stuck in the bathroom, with fire surrounding him and had to run through the fire to get out of the house. Chrissy was also stuck inside the house when the door stuck and wouldn’t budge. After what seemed like a long time but was actually a few minutes, Chrissy managed to get the door open, almost running into a fireman who was fixing to break the door down. By 1 a.m. that morning, the Wilson's home was nothing but a pile of burned rubble.

Chrissy stated, living in a small town like Depew, the community came together quicker than she could have imagined. The people and the churches in the community have offered money, brought clothing, food, and needed items.

Dough Boyz Pizza held a fundraiser on Tuesday, July 13. In just three hours they sold 500 pizzas. Dough Boyz then gave 75percent of the profits to the Wilson family. A couple either going to or coming from Arkansas saw the donation bucket on the counter at PDQ in Depew. They had their eight year old daughter with them who asked her parents to read what the bucket said. After hearing what it was for, she took out all the change and put it in the bucket. She said I hope this will help the family. American Red Cross has given the family $500 plus extra to help replace the things they lost such as their eye glasses, etc. For the American Red Cross to help them, they needed to see an ID which Chrissy’s burned up in the fire. Tom was able to find his wallet in the house after the fire. Chrissy said it was a blessing all the contents were intact so they were able to show them his ID. Right now the Wilsons are living across the street with their daughter. Chrissy said they still need lots of prayers to help them through this.

There are donation containers set up at PDQ in Depew and Depew Town Hall for those wanting to donate money. There is also a donation box at PDQ if anyone wishes to donate any clothing to the Wilson family. The Wilson family feels so proud to live in the town of Depew and said that they can’t thank everyone enough for the quick response of the Depew Fire Department and for everything that the community has done for them already.