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Family Of Eight Loses Everything In Fire

MUNCY — A family in Lycoming County is looking for help after they lost everything in a fire. The fire Thursday heavily damaged their house. Friends of th...
MUNCY_FIRE2-12-18

MUNCY -- A family in Lycoming County is looking for help after they lost everything in a fire.

The fire Thursday heavily damaged their house.

Friends of the Bilbay family in Muncy are accepting donations and even set up a bank account for the couple and their six kids. The family says they lost all of their clothes and Christmas presents and decorations in the fire.

William and Melinda Bilbay looked over the damage at their Muncy home on Friday. Just one day earlier, their house and everything inside of it was destroyed by smoke and flames.

The fire chief says it was caused by faulty wiring under the stairs.

The family was not home at the time. Melinda got a call from one of her neighbors.

"She just said, 'the house is burning down' and I thought she meant her house and I was trying to calm her down. And then she said, 'No, Melinda, yours.'"

Melinda and William have six kids between the ages of 5 and 14. The Red Cross is helping them for now but eventually they don't know where they are going to go.

"My family is in Oklahoma and we just have nobody up here. It's just us," said William Bilbay.

The family says the fire is especially devastating one week before Christmas. All of their presents and decorations were destroyed.

"We have our Christmas tree all set up with all the kids' homemade decorations they've made over the years. That's what our tree is and all that's gone and I don't know where we're going to spend Christmas," said Melinda.

Family members say they lost everything in this fire except for the clothes on their backs. They also say they're grateful for the support the Muncy community has given them.

"We're getting a lot of donations of clothing that we have to go through. We're finding some things for the boys and we have to go through now to see if we have enough clothes for the girls," said Melinda.

One of the family's' neighbors is collecting donations at 24 North Washington Street.

Kay Buck of Muncy dropped off some items.

"They don't have anything right now. They need clothes for the kids and themselves, money to get by," Buck said.

If you do not live in the Lycoming County area and want to help the Bilbay family there is a savings account set up at Muncy Bank and Trust under "Bilbay Family Fund."

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