Group member escapes blaze

This year’s Bridge the Gap rock fest will be one to remember for Jeff Killin of DaBoondox.

It comes less than two weeks after a fire at his townhouse displaced the rapper, his girlfriend, Stephanie McGuire, and their 3-month-old baby girl, Makenna.

The fire damaged several adjacent townhouses on Mathews Road in Boardman in the early morning hours of Sept. 3. Killin and McGuire lost all of their furniture, kitchen belongings and baby clothes in the blaze.

After getting out of their burning home, the couple raced to their neighbors and pounded on their doors to alert them, possibly saving their lives.

McGuire woke Killin about 1 a.m. to say she smelled something burning, and the couple went outside to investigate. They found no fire, but the smell persisted, so they decided to stay downstairs and try to fall back to sleep.

“All of a sudden, the kitchen wall started crackling, and smoke started pouring out of the walls,” said Killin. “We grabbed the baby and her car seat and ran outside and called 911. We knocked on our neighbors door — he was sleeping — and got him out. His kitchen floor was melting, and fire was coming from his walls.

“My girlfriend then ran to the neighbor next to him, who just had a new baby girl two weeks before, and got them out.”

Firefighters extinguished the blaze, which was determined to have started in a neighbor’s breaker box. However, the fire reignited around 4 a.m. and caused more damage.

Killin, McGuire and their baby spent that night and several more in a local motel, courtesy of the Red Cross. “We have had a tremendous amount of help from the Red Cross, family and friends, with donations, gift cards and baby clothes,” said Killin.

—Guy D’Astolfo