Fire rips through local house

FLINT TOWNSHIP (WJRT) -- (12/23/08)--Constant snow is not only wreaking havoc on the roads. It may be the cause behind a devastating house fire that wiped out Christmas for a mother and her four children.

The fire broke out shortly before 6 p.m. Tuesday night at a home in Genesee County. The home is located on Eberly Road in Flint Township.

That's off of Corunna Road just west of I-75.

The question some are asking is, could the pile-up of snow and ice that is causing many of us to spin our tires be behind the latest tragedy in Flint Township?

Those in the house at the time say their nightmare started shortly after a car spun its wheels in trying to get up the driveway.

"She kept spinning the tires, and when it got in the garage, it must of ... I don't know what happened, but we started smelling smoke in the house," said Samantha Hendricks, the sister of the fire victim, Jackie Stenkie.

Hendricks and her sister, who had been inside baking cookies and getting ready for Christmas, grabbed their six kids and ran across the street.

Others tried to put out the smoke in the car, but it burst into flames, carrying the fire across the house and taking with it all their possessions and the gifts they had just finished wrapping.

"She went out and bought Christmas presents for her kids and she didn't have a lot of money, but she did it anyway -- put off some of her bills to get them a Christmas," Hendricks said.

"It's gone."

Fire officials who arrived at the scene say their efforts were stymied by a fire hydrant that was 2,000 feet away and by roads that were completely unplowed.

"The roads are a mess," said Flint Township Fire Department Capt. John Ringwelski. "It made it a little difficult getting our trucks in and out and getting our guys here also."

As for a car's spinning wheels over icy snow being the cause of a fire, that's something officials may be looking at.

"I just know we've had vehicles that have been stuck and get so hot they start something on fire," Ringwelski said.

"It could have been. We'll investigate it later, but right now we're working on getting the fire out."

Anyone interested in helping Stenkie and her family can contact Hendricks. Her cell phone number is (248) 802-2672.

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local, cathy shafran

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