CLINTON COUNTY — An area community is coming together after a house fire killed a woman and five children.
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Melissa Ryan is the vice president of Dropout Restaurants in Clinton County, a group of four dining spots.
They plan to use each restaurant on four consecutive days, starting Monday, to raise funds for the family.
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“It’s so close to home, and it could have happened to any of us, and we just want to do what we can to help,” Ryan said.
Most of the restaurants are in Wilmington.
Investigators reopened the roads in that small town on Wednesday.
You can see the one traffic light and just a couple of hundred yards back, the burned-out shell of the family’s home.
Firefighters and the State Fire Marshal’s Office investigators kept caution scene tape in place and posted ‘Keep Out’ warnings on the door.
They continue to work to pinpoint what started the flames.
Three of the family’s five children attended classes at Clinton-Massie Elementary School.
The district said the school community is in shock and rallying around each other.
That’s what the fundraiser sponsored by the restaurant group is also designed to do.
“It’s unbelievable to lose almost the entire family in such a tragic event,” Ryan said. “The whole community is just somber and sad about it.”
The restaurant group is donating 10 percent of sales from each of their four restaurants to help the man who survived cover funeral costs and a new home.
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