Camp Counselors Credited With Saving Woman, Cats From House Fire Sparked By Lightning Strike

Four island camp counselors are being credited with alerting an island homeowner to a fire at her home following a lightning strike earlier this month and rescuing her cats from the burning structure.

"People need to know that these four people stopped and banged on my door and saved my life," said Susan Hostetler, whose home on Upper Tawpawshaw Road sustained significant damage during the fire.

On the night of July 18th, Hostetler said she was in her kitchen making strawberry ice cream during the intense thunderstorm that night that brought numerous lightning strikes across the island. She heard a bang, and an alarm started going off in her home. But Hostetler dismissed the alarm, thinking it was merely a power surge that had set it off. She didn't realize her roof was already engulfed in flames.

"And then I heard bang, bang, bang! And someone yelling, 'Get out of your house! Your roof is on fire'!" Hostetler recalled. "I then burst into tears. I instantly turned into a wreck, and they walked in the house. They leaped into action."

At the door were Libby Stockton, Lilla Sharman, Jakobe Stevens, and Tabitha Myers, four counselors at the Strong Wings summer camp who happened to be leaving a nearby house when they spotted the flames coming from Hostetler's home.

"We saw the fire from a distance and we all kind of just collectively looked at each other and said, 'We gotta make sure she's okay'," Stockton recalled. "So, I jump out of the car while it's still kind of moving, start to run over, and Tabby, I believe, was right behind me as well. I was just slamming on Susan's window, saying, 'Yo, there's a fire! There's a fire!' And Susan ran to the door, and she said, 'Is everything okay?' I said, 'Yes, you're gonna be fine, but there is a fire on your roof right now'."

The four camp counselors called 911 to report the blaze, went back into the house with Hostetler, helped calm her down, located her cats and got them into carriers they retrieved from the basement, and then escaped from the structure unharmed.

"I said to them, 'I owe you my life and my kitties,' and then the fire truck showed up as soon as we got outside," Hostetler said. "They were golden angels who rescued me. It's a big miracle."

Hostetler's home sustained significant damage both from the fire and the water hoses that the fire department used to extinguish the blaze. She said the home had water damage on all three floors, but miraculously, her late husband's artwork was largely unharmed.

"The fire department got there so fast, so my house didn't burn down," she said.

For the four camp counselors who came to Hostetler's home in her time of need, it was a night they won't soon forget.

"I just feel very fortunate that we were at the right place at the right time," Stockton said. "I know for a fact that Jakobe, Lilla, Tabby, and I would do it all again in a heartbeat, and it's just really nice to know that she knew she was safe, her cats are safe, and although I can't imagine the type of trauma she endured, I am very thankful that everyone's in one piece."