St. Paul house fire: Matriarch ‘made it through the black smoke’

March 13--When a St. Paul family woke to a house fire this week and three of the people inside rushed to safety, the matriarch of the home struggled to escape

Kevin Cherveny ran around the outside of the home in the Highwood Hills neighborhood, breaking windows with a shovel and screaming for his mother to come to the window -- he was ready to pull her out, said Nicole Cherveny, Kevin's wife. She and her sister-in-law also yelled for Lynne Houle-Cherveny, 55.

Every time Kevin Cherveny broke a window, smoke and flames shot out.

"Thank God, she made it through the black smoke," Nicole Cherveny said Wednesday about the early Monday fire.

"She couldn't see, but she followed our voices and knowing the floor plan of her house, she held her breath and made it to the front door.

Once he saw her, he grabbed her and helped her out."

Nicole Cherveny's two dogs died in the fire, and the house burned nearly to the ground. The four people who were home fled barefoot in their pajamas. They lost all their possessions.

The family had to wait a long time for firefighters to get water to fight the fire, Nicole Cherveny said.

The nearest fire hydrant was about four blocks away, and firefighters had to lay a hose over several blocks to reach the house, said St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard. They hooked up three fire engines along the way to pump the water, he said.

"That's very rare in St. Paul," Zaccard said. "Almost all of St. Paul is supplied with fire hydrants."

Information wasn't available Wednesday about how long it took firefighters to get water to the fire.

The area doesn't have city water service; homes have individual wells, said Steve Schneider, St. Paul Regional Water Services general manager.

It's one of the "very few parts of St. Paul that doesn't have water service," he said.

Fire hydrants must be connected to public water mains, Schneider said.

The home in the 500 block of South Point Douglas Road had been passed down through Houle-Cherveny's family for generations, her daughter-in-law said.

It was built in 1928, according to county property records.

Early Monday, Nicole Cherveny, 30, woke up to her mother-in-law yelling, "Help!"

Houle-Cherveny, on the first floor, heard a loud pop and the faint beeping of a fire alarm, Nicole Cherveny said. The couch and curtains were burning, and she saw flames coming through the walls.

Nicole Cherveny screamed for her dogs to follow her as she went downstairs and out the back door. Her husband's first thought was that was if he could push the burning couch out the back door, he could save the house, Nicole Cherveny said.

"He didn't realize the fire was within the walls of the home," she said.

The couch was wedged in the back door, but Kevin Cherveny, 32, pulled it back and rushed out the door before the couch fell and blocked the door again.

His sister, Sally Cherveny, was still inside. She and her brother pried down a window's top half. With a running start, the 33-year-old jumped and pulled herself up to the window, and Kevin Cherveny pulled her the rest of the way out and caught her, his wife said.

After the desperate moments to get Lynne Cherveny out, the four ran to a neighbor's house, fearing their home would blow up because they could hear appliances exploding, Nicole Cherveny said.

The fire department was called at 3:58 a.m., Zaccard said. Firefighters found the home fully engulfed, he said. Paramedics took the home's four occupants to Regions Hospital to be treated for minor smoke inhalation, minor burns and cuts, Nicole Cherveny said.

The dogs couldn't get out of the house, Nicole Cherveny said. Her 5-year-old Golden Retriever named Lady and 13-year-old Labrador/border collie mix named Rigby perished.

"They're like my kids," she said. "The grief of losing my dogs eats at me because I couldn't save them."

Nicole Cherveny said it was news to her that there was no fire hydrant on her block.

"I want to let my neighbors know because none of us are aware," she said. "Our house went up so quick because of the electrical aspect of it, the fire being in the walls. If any of my neighbors run into a problem with fire, are they doomed to the same fate because we don't have a hydrant?"

The public water supply can be extended in an area by petition of homeowners, Schneider said. It can also be expanded if there is a major street reconstruction project. In both cases, the costs would be assessed to the property owners who are served, Schneider said.

Zaccard said the fire's cause remained under investigation. The family is convinced it was an electrical fire, Nicole Cherveny said.

Houle-Cherveny didn't have homeowner's insurance, her family said. Nicole and Kevin Cherveny had renter's insurance, but it was a small policy and she said they're still out a lot. They are staying with other relatives now.

"It still hasn't all the way sunk in," Nicole Cherveny said. "There's still shock and disbelief that in a blink of an eye, we lost everything. ... At this point, we're just trying to rebuild our lives. We're just grateful that all of us survived and we'll move on from there."

Mara H. Gottfried can be reached at 651-228-5262. Follow her at twitter.com/MaraGottfried.

HOW TO HELP

People can donate to the Cherveny Family Fire Relief Fund at any Wells Fargo bank. Lynne Houle-Cherveny, the homeowner, and her granddaughter will be the main beneficiaries, said Annie Cherveny, her daughter.

Houle-Cherveny had no homeowner's insurance and is required to pay to clean up the home's debris, which will be at least $10,000, Annie Cherveny said. Houle-Cherveny's 10-year-old granddaughter lived at the house (she wasn't there at the time of the fire) and also lost all her possessions, she said.

A fund has also been set up for Kevin and Nicole Cherveny online at www.gofundme.com/7fznb4.

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