Amish Help Save English Neighbors From House Fire

This is just a short report with not a lot of details, but worth posting under the “Feelgood News Files” heading 😉 (that doesn’t actually exist here but maybe it should). Unnamed Amish residents of Rossie, New York alerted their non-Amish neighbors Tuesday morning that their abode was ablaze. A chimney fire, to be precise. From wwnytv.com:

Fire Chief Tom Conklin says when firefighters arrived, they found smoke showing from the roof and eaves of the home. While inside, crews found fire in the walls and ceiling of an addition to the home.

Conklin said firefighters worked quickly to douse the flames and were able to confine the heavy fire damage to the addition. The rest of the home sustained moderate damage, he said. The chief said a woodstove chimney sparked the blaze in the walls and ceiling.

One of the people living in the home credited the Amish with saving the lives of the four asleep in the home:

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He said he and three other people were sleeping when the fire broke out. The resident said Amish neighbors saved their lives by alerting them about the fire and helping them to get out safely.

There’s nothing particularly “Amish” about this story (eg, they didn’t rush off by buggy to sound the alarm), it sounds like they just walked over and probably banged on the door.

Except for one thing. The Amish here sounded the alarm at a decidedly “Amish” hour – shortly before 5 am.

It’s not that non-Amish people aren’t awake at that time. It’s just more common for the Amish to be up so early (with dairy farming and other occupations getting them up before dawn).

I’d guess they are probably dairy farmers and were up doing milking when they noticed signs of fire. The four residents of the home were fortunate that their neighbors happened to notice what could have been a deadly blaze.