Some arson victims returning to rebuilt Coatesville houses

The fire that ripped through her Coatesville block on Jan. 24 now seems like a bad dream to Geneva Thomas - but one she can easily escape when she sits on her refurbished front porch.

"I remember standing outside in shock as the flames moved closer and thinking this can't be happening," she recalled. "And then my sister grabbed me and said, 'We're leaving. You're not going to stand here and watch your house burn down.' "

Thomas complied, but she returned within hours, ignoring skeptics and vowing to rebuild.

Thomas, 39, was one of more than 50 people displaced by the four-alarm fire that hit the 300 block of Fleetwood Street. The first to return, she will be joined soon by Jane Hickman, who lived two doors away. The fate of the other dozen damaged homes remains uncertain, because many owners were uninsured.

Six suspects, including one linked to the Fleetwood fire, have been charged. They are accused separately of setting fewer than half of the 70 fires that plagued Coatesville from February 2008 until last March.

Weeks before the fires subsided, Thomas revved into recovery mode. Abandoning her home was never an option, she said, even though she had no insurance.

"I bought this place when I was 18," she explained. "It turned out to be the best block. . . . If one person had a barbecue, everyone had one. That's how close we were."

Thomas, who moved back at the beginning of the summer, credits her property's transformation to Good Works, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the living conditions of low-income families.

After she contacted the organization, Thomas said, "they just took over." A stream of volunteers from as far as Delaware filled her home periodically over several months, she said.

The finished product - which she shares with her 14-year-old daughter, Brittani; Brittani's dog, Wolf, a recent housewarming gift; and a friend, Charles Thomas - astounds and delights her.

"They were amazing," she said of Good Works. "They brought the house back to its former condition, even the trim on the roof; actually, they made it better."

Thomas said she never had a ceiling fan before.

"I didn't ask for that. They just decided I needed it," she said.

Joe Lisowski, who directed the project for Good Works, called the fan "an inexpensive and practical way to deal with heat."

Last weekend, Thomas hosted a picnic - her first gathering since the renovations were completed - to thank her rescuers.

In addition to the Good Works crew, the guest list included Mary Ann Potts, 82, and her husband, Joe, 87, of Exton.

"I didn't know them from a hill of beans," Thomas recalled. "They just stopped by one day to see if I needed anything."

Mary Ann Potts said that after she and her husband heard about the fire, she suggested putting "some stuff" in the car. Several days later, the couple took a detour to Fleetwood Street on their way to a soul line-dancing class at the Coatesville Senior Center.

"By luck, we found Geneva, and I said, 'I don't know if you want any of this,' " Mary Ann Potts said. "She was very grateful, and we've kept in touch."

Two doors from Thomas, Hickman is putting finishing touches on her residence - and counting her blessings.

Unlike most of her neighbors, she had insurance and had just celebrated making her final mortgage payment.

"There was no way I wasn't coming back," she said.

For about seven months, Hickman, 49, went daily from her factory job to the house, where she supplemented the work covered by insurance. And she was usually surrounded by friends and relatives.

"I've had so many wonderful people helping me," she said, estimating at least 20 assistants. "The house is better than it ever was."

Before the fire, Hickman lived with her son, Brandon Thomas, 17, a rugby player at Coatesville High; her daughter, Brandy Hickman, 30; and her daughter's two children, Paul Cortez, 9, and Carlos Cortez, 5.

Her daughter has been trying to find her own place, Hickman said, but she and her son - who have been staying at the home of Hickman's boss, Patricia Grubb - hope to be back in the house within two weeks.

There, "happy colors" are beckoning.

Hickman painted walls "caterpillar green" and "ocean blue," hung a vibrant mural of roses in memory of her late mother, and gave the brick exterior a "fiesta red" treatment.

Her piece de resistance? A laundry room.

"I've never had one before in my life," she said. "I can't wait to get back in here."

She and Geneva Thomas expect to welcome another neighbor within a month as Good Works finishes work on a rental home next door to Thomas, but many of the other 15 damaged homes show few signs of recovery.

Four have been condemned, which means they have to be completely rebuilt or demolished, said Kristin Geiger, a city spokeswoman. About a half-dozen homeowners, including Thomas and Hickman, have received building permits, she said.

Geiger said the city was working with the others to "assist in any way possible" with renovations. She declined to speculate about options if those efforts failed.

"It's amazing how people came together during this tragedy," Geiger said.

Hickman couldn't agree more. One of her goals once she is settled is to throw a party. The invitees will include everyone who extended a hand during the arson crisis, ranging from U.S. Sen. Bob Casey to church groups to the Guardian Angels.

"I don't know how many of them will come, but they're all getting invited," she said with a smile.