By Tricia Pursell
SELINSGROVE — Jessica Caraballo had fallen asleep while watching television with her son in the Sand Hill Road apartment they share with her asthmatic mother, her father, who is recuperating from triple-bypass surgery, and six children who are in her custody.
That’s when her son noticed bright lights outside the window, near a storage shed and three family vehicles, one of which contained Christmas presents Caraballo had just bought.
She saw flames.
They “were really high,” she said.
Then the heat from the blaze shattered her windows and melted the window panes.
Inside the storage shed were bikes, her son’s four-wheeler, scooters belonging to her mother, and books and clothing Caraballo was intending to donate to local charities.
“It’s all gone,” she said.
As are the Christmas presents and the family’s three vehicles, an estimated loss of $30,000.
“You work so hard, and it’s all gone in two minutes,” Caraballo said.
The fire Tuesday night was one of four authorities believe was intentionally set in an eight-hour period in Selinsgrove.
A motorist observed trash and leaves burning inside a garage on West Spruce Street, across from 310 W. Spruce St., at 9:20 p.m. Fire crews quickly extinguished the blaze and prevented major damage.
Ten minutes later, at 411 W. Snyder St. — a little more than a quarter-mile away — residents noticed a plastic trash can had been set afire outside the rear of the house. The blaze was put out before major damage occurred.
One mile away and one hour later, Caraballo’s son noticed bright lights outside the window.
That blaze consumed the family’s 1998 Ford Explorer, a 1998 Ford Taurus, and a Plymouth Voyager minivan.
Also destroyed in the blaze was a Chevrolet Chevelle and a Ford Ranger.
Payments were still being made on the Plymouth minivan, said Caraballo, who has rented Apartment 1 for two years.
Her family was among the tenants evacuated from the six-unit apartment building.
“It was too late for me to do anything but get them out of the house,” Caraballo said.
State police Fire Marshal Norman Fedder, of the Milton station, said the fire near the Caraballo apartment was set inside the storage shed. It appeared as though the arsonist set the fire using an open flame and items present within the storage shed, according to a police report.
At 5:41 a.m. Wednesday, Roche Francis Babin, 47, of 121 Orange St., noticed that her 1999 Dodge Durango had been entered, and that a fire had been set on the front passenger seat. The fire had extinguished itself, but not before causing $5,000 in damage.
It is believed that fire — about a mile from the Caraballo residence and set with combustible paper materials and an open flame — occurred between 7 p.m. Tuesday and the time of the report.
Anyone with information on the fires is asked to contact the Selinsgrove Police Department at 374-8655. They have been assisted in this investigation by Pennsylvania State Police and Dauntless Hook and Ladder Fire Company.
Crime scenes have been processed by the state police fire marshal and Selinsgrove police. Evidence has been recovered. Police are investigating reports from witnesses who observed juveniles or young adults in the area of one of the incidents being investigated. Police are requesting the public to report any suspicious observations made during the evening hours of Tuesday in or about the areas where these fires occurred.
Caraballo said she and her family were not able to return to their home until about 1:30 or 2 a.m. Wednesday.
They had nowhere else to go, she said.
But the 34-year-old said she is strong, and confident that the pieces will be put back together in the coming weeks.
“Material stuff you can replace,” Caraballo said. And though their gifts went up in flames, she said she told the children, “I’ll make sure Christmas will come. It’ll just be a little harder.”
“All I can say is thank God we still have a place to live,” she said.
n E-mail comments to tpursell@dailyitem.com
