SHENANDOAH -- A fire forced a woman out of her apartment in Shenandoah after flames gutted the second floor.
It is the latest of a series of fires in that Schuylkill County community that has people on edge.
Two days before Christmas, and friends of a fire victim salvage a plastic tree and a few pieces of furniture from a burned-out apartment in Shenandoah.
Monday night, firefighters were at the Gilbert Street apartment trying to contain that fire. It's a scene that is all too familiar in Shenandoah.
"It's scary. It really is."
Sharon Tyahla moved to Shenandoah from South Carolina two years ago.
"Since I've been here, there's been a fire behind my house, there's been one around the corner," she said.
"I don't understand why you got a lot of fires here in Shenandoah. You know, every week…I don't understand why," said Francisco Nune.z
Nunez moved there eight years ago. He says fires seem more frequent.
Whether they be arsons or accidents, many in Shenandoah believe fires are burning homes with alarming frequency.
November 16: a fire at a vacant apartment spread, leaving 22 people looking for another place to live.
November 2: a fire at a row home spread and even gutted a firefighter's home.
September 29: four separate fires damaged 13 mostly vacant buildings. Investigators say an arsonist was responsible that night, but to date, no one has been charged.
"I'm worried," said Nunez.
"Now I'm getting to know what the town's about, and all the fires," Tyahla said.
Tyahla worries people might die in fires or kids could get hurt playing near the handful of burned-out buildings that dot Shenandoah neighborhoods, and she's had enough.
"Once my lease is up, I'm moving, because there's too many fires in this town."
Since the end of September, fires in Shenandoah have forced at least 34 people out of their homes.