Pennsylvania mom runs back into burning home for daughter, then pets
By Marcie Cipriani
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EAST FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania (WPBF) — Nikki Shumaker said when she awoke to the sound of a smoke detector, she began to scream for her children. When she made her way outside, she realized one of her kids had not left the house.
“They say don’t go back in, right? And as a mom, you’re like, there’s no way I’m not going back,” Shumaker said. “She wouldn’t have woken up.”
Shumaker said she quickly went back into the burning home, feeling her way through the smoke, while her feet were burning from the fire coming from the floor below.
“I couldn’t see her,” Shumaker said. “I’m like, ‘Emma, there’s a fire, we have to get out,’ and she was like, ‘I can’t see, I can’t breathe.’ I said to her ‘just grab my hand,’ and that I’m trying to reach her. She finally grabbed my hand, and I just pulled her towards me and down off the bed.”
Shumaker said she held her 12-year-old daughter in front of her, and crouching down, she felt their way to the door. They were safe, but Shumaker wasn’t done.
“When I went outside, I heard a cat scream, so I ran in, trying to get it to come to me. I grabbed a hold of it, and it just, like, flipped out and went. My son was screaming for me to come back out. I couldn’t breathe anymore, and I had to come back out. We just sat there with the door open, trying to get the animals to come to us,” Shumaker said.
She said the firefighters managed to find their missing pets and get them out of the home.
“They worked on them, and they brought them back to life,” Shumaker said.
She said one cat and one dog are not doing well. They are receiving veterinary care, but Shumaker said the care is costly, and she is not sure how much they can afford.
The family is looking for organizations that might be able to help.
Shumaker said she and her daughter were treated for smoke inhalation but are recovering.
She said the fire marshal believes the fire was electrical.
A GoFundMe page has since been set up on behalf of the family: Help the Shumaker Family and Ollie Recover
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