Fire displaces 25 people at Sherry Lake Apartments
WHITEMARSH >> Sixteen units were damaged and 25 residents displaced in the Jan. 21 fire at the Sherry Lake Apartments in the 1800 block of Butler Pike.
Two GoFundMe campaigns are now underway to help some of the residents who lost all their belongings in the fire.
The fire at the Norwalk Building of the complex in the Conshohocken section of the township was called in at 9:01 a.m. Tuesday and was showing heavy fire when firefighters arrived, Whitemarsh police Lt. Greg Keenan said.
Residents and pets were evacu
ated safely, he said, but one pet died as a result of smoke inhalation.
Keenan said one resident was treated for signs of smoke inhalation at the scene and transported and then released, and one firefighter had a cut treated at the scene, but there were no serious injuries to residents or firefighters.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, he said Friday.
The blaze was under control by 11:31 a.m. and firefighters left the scene at 4 p.m., he said.
A GoFundMe campaign for one resident, Rachel Weller, had reached $8,695 by Friday morning. Started by a co-worker at Orangetheory Fitness, the fundraiser website states Weller lost “almost 100% of her personal belongings” in the fire. The funds “will help her replenish everything she lost,” including furniture, kitchen items, clothing, toiletries, cleaning products, food and other items, it says.
A GoFundMe campaign for the Brenner Family, a mother and adult daughter, started by Chabad of Lafayette Hill, notes “the fire and water damage has left much of their belongings unsalvageable.”
As of Friday morning, $1,791 of a $10,000 goal had been raised.
“It was a total loss,” said Rabbi Yisroel Kotlansky of Chabad of Lafayette Hill.
“In general we are here to give them any support they will need.”
Hopefully, they will have a new apartment at Sherry Lake by the weekend, “and we will try to help them get furniture” and other items they need, she said.
“We got a lot of calls, even from people who don’t really know them,” Kotlansky said. “It’s been beautiful to see so many people in the community offer to help.”
The GoFundMe campaign for the Brenner family can be accessed at https:// www.gofundme.com/f/ help-family-of-sherry-lakefire.
The GoFundMe campaign for Rachel Weller is at gf.me/v/c/zld/for-rachelweller.
Toiletries, socks, heathy snacks and towels were also being collected for Weller at the Orangetheory studio in Audubon, 613 S. Trooper Road.