CHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (CN2 NEWS) Adam Glackler has been volunteering for the Fort Lawn Fire Department for 5 years. He never imagined that one day his department would be responding to a fire at his own home.
Glackler was at work on Thursday when he received an alert on his phone of a fire. Initially the address was wrong, and Glackler thought the fire was at a neighbor’s house.
“A guy from our department gave me a call and said, ‘Hey, is this your house?’ I said, ‘No, that’s not my address.’ I think that’s a guy next door,” remembers Glackler, “I told him he’s an elderly guy, he doesn’t get around very good. You all need to get over there because he might be inside.”
It took a few more phone calls for the news to sink in — the house on fire was Glacker’s.
“While I was on the phone with him, another guy from our department called. He was beeping in and I called him and he said, ‘I think this is your house.’ And I said, ‘Are you sure?’ It was kind of back and forth, and he said, ‘Well, 210, our main engine, it’s in your driveway.”
By the time Glackler arrived, the home was a total loss.
“There is no home. It’s gone. We can’t just walk in the home and do what we do everyday.”
Glackler lived at the house with his wife and one-year-old son. Glackler says he’s just grateful the family wasn’t home when the fire started.
“I mean I stayed up all night, just looking at the house and where his bedroom is,” said Glacker, talking about his son, “And the way the fire moved, and how fast the fire moved… If it was the night before, I’m not certain we could have gotten him out.”
Glackler says the cause of the fire was likely electrical. He warns people to always make sure everything is unplugged and turned off before they leave their house.
“Sometimes people don’t really think about it. You get in a rush, and things don’t get turned off. It just takes another minute to go back and double check.”
A GoFundMe Page has been started for the Glackler family. It has already raised more than $1,000.
But Glacker says the hardest loss to take in is the one no amount of money can buy.
“The memories. With my son being so young, is he going to remember playing in the house?”
A reminder that the people who always help, sometimes need help, too.
