Fireproof provides essential services for fire victims
When fire engulfed a mobile home in Clearfield Township on March 8, Daniel Weidenhof of Fireproof — East Brady established a GoFundMe page for the family, raising over $21,000 in five days.
Fireproof also hosted a separate GoFundMe related to a fire in Armstrong County in January. But facilitating donations is just one of the many ways the Weidenhofs helped fire victims in the area over the past year and a half.
Fireproof started after the Weidenhofs suffered from a house fire of their own on May 17, 2023. The community came together to help the family get back on their feet by August, but the Weidenhofs recognized not everyone would have the same outpouring of help as he did.
“I feel, whether you’re known, whether you do something for your community, that shouldn’t matter when you have such a devastation in your life,” Daniel Weidenhof said. “You should always have somebody there to help you.”
Since starting, Fireproof has helped “12 to 15 families,” he said.
Amanda Weidenhof, Daniel’s wife, said she believes their own experience as fire victims has helped establish Fireproof as a friendly face.
“I feel like it’s easier for somebody to accept help from someone who has gone through it themselves as opposed to accepting it from somebody who’s just there because they’re paid to be there,” she said. “You get that look of pity from people, it can be really dehumanizing.”
A key point of success in the Weidenhofs’ eyes is the connections made with other local organizations.
When Fireproof was founded, they reached out to the seven fire departments that responded to their own fire. Most of them will now reach out to Fireproof directly when help is needed.
“If something happens, they’ll call me directly and say ‘Hey, we’ve got a structure fire and people are here who don’t have anywhere to go, they don’t have anything, can you come and help?’ Whenever they call Red Cross or Salvation Army, we’re added to that as well,” Daniel Weidenhof said.
“We’ve been lucky enough as well to have local businesses donate things that we can put into essential bags,” Amanda Weidenhof added.
Fireproof focuses on supplying “essential bags,” containing items such as clothing and hygiene products, to recent fire victims. The idea of supplying bags came from the family’s own experience missing essential items.
If the victims want further assistance, Fireproof has made local connections to ensure a victim can recover. Fireproof can connect someone to hotels offering reduced rates, thrift stores offering free clothes and ministries that can provide food.
“We put them in touch with the appropriate people so they’re not having to deal with the wrong people who might be looking to take advantage of the situation,” Amanda Weidenhof said. “There are people out there who take advantage of the situation and take advantage of the people going through it.”
Outside of essential items, Fireproof also provides gift cards to give victims the right to choose what to buy. Furthermore, the organization provides checklists for information the insurance company may ask for.
“After our fire, people told me their names and numbers and I didn’t write anything down. Then, when I was talking to insurance, I ended up needing a lot of that information,” Daniel Weidenhof said. “We make that checklist so people know what’s important.”
The Weidenhofs said they believe community-focused organizations such as Fireproof see further success in close-knit environments such as Butler County.
“If this had happened in a bigger city, it would have happened, people would have talked about it for a couple of days and then they would have moved on with their lives,” Amanda Weidenhof said. “But having this happen in such a small community where everybody is so connected to one another and looks out for one another in the way that they do, it’s made it a lot easier for folks to go through.”
