Neighbors rescue elderly Youngstown woman from fire

YOUNGSTOWN

Margaret Beverly saw the flames next to her home on North Garland Avenue and Valley Street, but that was about all.

The 88-year-old woman was awakened by neighbors after midnight Tuesday as the vacant house next to hers caught fire and threatened to burn down her house as well.

Yvette Rogers Prater, who lives on Arch Street, said her brother was coming home from work and drove by the neighborhood to check on their brother, who lives on Pearl Street, when he noticed the fire and told their mother, who called 911.

Prater said the home is very close to Beverly’s, and they were worried for her safety. She and her brother went there, managed to get inside, and wake her.

The vacant home burned to the ground but there were still embers snapping and crackling Wednesday afternoon. All of the windows on the right side of Beverly’s house were blown out by the fire, and the siding and shingles on that side of the house were warped.

“If my brother and I couldn’t have gotten to her, she would have died,” Prater said.

Read more about the fire in Thursday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.