Amish team brings Franklin Township home up from the ashes
FRANKLIN TWP — On the same spot where Tom and Roberta McGregor’s home burned to the ground four months ago, hope has risen from the ashes, thanks to a group of men from the Amish community.
Shortly after the calamity struck in on July 26, these men offered to build the McGregors a new home from the ground up, absolutely free of charge. Construction began on the McGregors’ new home Monday morning, Nov. 20, at the exact spot on Country Lane Road in Franklin Township where their former house once stood.
“A lot of them said they wanted to come down,” McGregor said. “You just have to catch them on a day that they can get away from their work.”
Already, the team of hard-working Amish folk have laid the foundation for the new home. Work is expected to continue on the exterior for about a week before moving on to the interior.
McGregor, a retired electrician, will assist with putting together the plumbing and wiring for the new house, while M.D. Sarvey Plumbing & Heating, of Prospect, will take care of the heating.
McGregor said he has been friends with his Amish neighbors for roughly 40 years.
“I’ve been acquainted with the Amish around here for years,” McGregor said. “I do a lot of stuff with them. I even speak part of their language and understand it.”
The McGregors’ old home, where they had lived for 50 years, caught fire on a Wednesday afternoon in July. They escaped along with their dogs, Major and Bentley.
The blaze left the home unsalvageable, despite the efforts of more than a dozen local fire and rescue agencies who converged on the scene.
“What was left wasn't fit to do anything with,” McGregor said. “There was some downstairs furniture, but it was soaked with water and smoke damage, so we couldn’t use it.”
Four months after the fire that brought down his house, he is still not sure how it started.
“We don’t have the slightest idea,” McGregor said. ”I went into the house to take a shower, and I got out of the shower and the wife’s yelling, ‘the house is on fire!’ Sure enough, it was blazing strong.“
McGregor is confident the Amish team can get the job done. He recounted the story of an earlier house fire in which they were able to repair massive internal damage and make the house livable within a week of the fire.
“One of the Amish crew ... their house burned down. It burned up inside pretty good,” McGregor said. “As the day went on, more and more Amish people showed up and went in to start clearing it out, and they had it all cleared out by the end of the day. The next day, they had it all rebuilt inside, and Monday they came and finished the drywall.”
Until the new house is ready, the McGregors are living in a trailer supplied to them by their insurance company.
“It’s small and cramped,” McGregor said. “But it’s living.”
