{"id":104858,"date":"2025-02-23T10:40:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T15:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?p=104858"},"modified":"2025-02-23T10:40:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T15:40:02","slug":"valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Valentine\u2019s Day fire guts River Road home; Family of six displaced; GoFundMe set up to help"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Wendy Post —<\/span><\/p>\n

On Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, at approximately 3 p.m., firefighters responded to a residential structure fire at 622 E. River Rd. in Nichols, N.Y. With cold and dry air prevalent, as well as winds that were preparing to unleash in the area, the home was a total loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Portions of River Road were closed off as firefighters from several companies battled the blaze, containing it as it burned out of control.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Valentine\u2019s<\/a>

Firefighters responded to a residential fire on River Road on Valentine\u2019s Day. Traffic was rerouted while they battled the blaze. Photo credit: Andy Fox.<\/p><\/div>\n

Five of the occupants were home at the time of the blaze and were able to get out safely. According to Christopher Lillie, a former Marine from Apalachin, N.Y., his niece, Corey Cheney, was at home with her four children, aged three to seven, when the fire broke out. Her husband, Brandon, was at work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing she got out with all four children,\u201d said Christopher, who has set up a GoFundMe to assist his niece and her family, who have been temporarily offered shelter through the American Red Cross.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can access the GoFundMe page at https:\/\/gofund.me\/cc5a7c96<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Corey\u2019s grandmother, Bonnie Lillie, from Apalachin, N.Y., was on her way to her granddaughter\u2019s house that Friday with red fruit for Valentine’s Day when she saw the smoke.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Valentine\u2019s<\/a>

Firefighters had to block portions of River Road in Nichols, N.Y. on Valentine\u2019s Day as they battled a structure fire. Photo credit: Scott Armstrong.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI hoped that someone was out burning trash, and then the panic set in as I got closer and could see all of the fire trucks and smoke,\u201d said Bonnie, adding, \u201cI felt better when a firefighter told me they all made it out safely.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are so grateful; the Lord was with them,\u201d Bonnie added.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said that her granddaughter, when the fire erupted, grabbed the children and they ran out of the home with nothing but the clothes on their backs, the youngest one in a diaper. The family lost everything.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Valentine\u2019s<\/a>

Smoke pours out of the home, located at 622 E. River Rd. in Nichols, N.Y. Photo credit: Andy Fox.<\/p><\/div>\n

But as communities always do, Bonnie stated that family and friends are coming together to help out. Folks are looking around to find housing for the family, who are hoping to stay in the Tioga Central School District.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once housing is secured, the family will need everything to start their household over: a stove, dishes, laundry baskets, a washer and dryer, everything that one would need for a family with four children.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Valentine\u2019s<\/a>

The home at 622 E. River Rd. was a total loss following a fire that gutted it on Valentine\u2019s Day. (Photo by Wendy Post)<\/p><\/div>\n

If anyone has household items they would like to donate, they can call Bonnie at (607) 725-8462. You can also donate to the GoFundMe, funds that will be utilized to help buy new clothes and all of the things the family needs.<\/span><\/p>\n

As for the cause of the fire, we have not received a response from the Nichols Fire Department at the time of this report. Discussions on the scene, unofficially, were about the possibilities of either faulty wiring or a wood stove near the fireplace. An investigation is most likely underway.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Wendy Post — On Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, at approximately 3 p.m., firefighters responded to a residential structure fire at 622 E. River Rd….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":104860,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nValentine\u2019s Day fire guts River Road home; Family of six displaced; GoFundMe set up to help - Owego Pennysaver Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Valentine\u2019s Day fire guts River Road home; Family of six displaced; GoFundMe set up to help - Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Wendy Post — On Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, at approximately 3 p.m., firefighters responded to a residential structure fire at 622 E. River Rd....\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Owego Pennysaver Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-23T15:40:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/02\/Fire2S.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"362\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"psadvert\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/\",\"name\":\"Valentine\u2019s Day fire guts River Road home; Family of six displaced; GoFundMe set up to help - Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/02\/Fire2S.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-23T15:40:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/02\/Fire2S.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/02\/Fire2S.jpg\",\"width\":400,\"height\":362,\"caption\":\"Flames can be seen shooting out of this East River Road residence on Valentine\u2019s Day. The home was a total loss, but the family made it out safely. Photo credit: Scott Armstrong.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Valentine\u2019s Day fire guts River Road home; Family of six displaced; GoFundMe set up to help\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/\",\"name\":\"Owego Pennysaver Press\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492\",\"name\":\"psadvert\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f42612cb07a4c4b7f1eb18ddb88bac4f8054cf2755aff2b1ac4f82d9e9ffd01?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f42612cb07a4c4b7f1eb18ddb88bac4f8054cf2755aff2b1ac4f82d9e9ffd01?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"psadvert\"},\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/author\/psadvert\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Valentine\u2019s Day fire guts River Road home; Family of six displaced; GoFundMe set up to help - Owego Pennysaver Press","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Valentine\u2019s Day fire guts River Road home; Family of six displaced; GoFundMe set up to help - Owego Pennysaver Press","og_description":"By Wendy Post — On Friday, Feb. 14, 2025, at approximately 3 p.m., firefighters responded to a residential structure fire at 622 E. River Rd....","og_url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/","og_site_name":"Owego Pennysaver Press","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/The-Owego-Pennysaver-49179420591\/","article_published_time":"2025-02-23T15:40:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":362,"url":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/02\/Fire2S.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"psadvert","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"psadvert","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/","url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/","name":"Valentine\u2019s Day fire guts River Road home; Family of six displaced; GoFundMe set up to help - Owego Pennysaver Press","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/02\/Fire2S.jpg","datePublished":"2025-02-23T15:40:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/02\/Fire2S.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.greenstreetdata.com\/PS\/owego\/files\/2025\/02\/Fire2S.jpg","width":400,"height":362,"caption":"Flames can be seen shooting out of this East River Road residence on Valentine\u2019s Day. The home was a total loss, but the family made it out safely. Photo credit: Scott Armstrong."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/2025\/02\/23\/valentines-day-fire-guts-river-road-home-family-of-six-displaced-gofundme-set-up-to-help\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Valentine\u2019s Day fire guts River Road home; Family of six displaced; GoFundMe set up to help"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/","name":"Owego Pennysaver Press","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/e03684194434956dfb61f5ffcbc19492","name":"psadvert","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f42612cb07a4c4b7f1eb18ddb88bac4f8054cf2755aff2b1ac4f82d9e9ffd01?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f42612cb07a4c4b7f1eb18ddb88bac4f8054cf2755aff2b1ac4f82d9e9ffd01?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"psadvert"},"url":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/author\/psadvert\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104866,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104858\/revisions\/104866"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/104860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.owegopennysaver.com\/PS\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}