Family alleges overnight Sullivan County fire that destroyed 82-year-old woman’s home was intentionally set
Floarea Vladu’s granddaughter says she believes the home on Skinners Falls Road West in Narrowsburg was intentionally set with the woman inside set shortly after midnight on Friday.
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An 82-year-old woman has been hospitalized after an overnight fire that destroyed her longtime Sullivan County home.
Floarea Vladu’s granddaughter says she believes the home on Skinners Falls Road West in Narrowsburg was intentionally set with the woman inside set shortly after midnight on Friday.
“She heard footsteps in the house and a liquid spilling and smelled gasoline,” says Sabrina Heltzel. “She was afraid because her husband is out of the country, so she hid under some blankets. The smoke got to where she had to leave.”
Heltzel says Vladu escaped but passed out from smoke inhalation on a neighbor’s concrete step and was found hours later.
“We don’t want to make any specific accusations but we just find the timing is interesting,” Heltzel says.
The woman’s granddaughter says Vladu and her grandfather, Gabriel, just got letters from the Town of Cochecton about cleaning up junk from their yard and that Gabriel told officials he would when he got back from Romania, where the family immigrated from 40 years ago.
“My grandfather has sort of a hoarding situation,” says Heltzel. “He’s a carpenter and mechanic by trade and in his older age, he hasn’t been able to keep up with things.”
The Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office and fire coordinator are investigating the blaze. Family say Vladu is expected to be OK and that she and her husband will eventually stay with their eldest son in New Jersey.
“It was like their American dream coming here, building a house and raising three kids,” Heltzel says with tears in her eyes. “I don’t think she’s going to come back from this emotionally.”
The couple’s black lab mix, “Rocco,” has been missing since the blaze, according to the family who say several indoor-outdoor cats have also not been seen since the fire.
