As Kim Gill hopelessly explores the apocalyptic landscape that was once her home, she repeatedly reaches out in desperate attempts at finding some intact link to her past, only to have object after object crumble into the dust of nothingness under the strain of her gentle grasp.

Emotional defeat rears its head as her gaze falls upon the blackened springs that had been her bed. Suddenly her spirit leaps as she unearths a few sopping-wet charred books that survived the very heart of the thieving blaze that has stolen so much from her.

Wedged between the pages of the battle-scarred books are tattered photographs of her college days, providing testimony that she once had a place to live, sacred possessions to hold, shoes to wear all of the things that had so recently been taken from her.

Gill, who is from Pekin, was a senior in psychology and fine arts at the time. She is one of three people whose trailer in Crab Orchard Mobile Home Park (east of town on South County Line Road) was completely destroyed by an accidental fire in the early evening hours of Aug. 26, 1996. No one was seriously injured.

Carbondale Township Fire Department officials determined that the blaze was ignited by an electrical short in the cord of a clock radio in the back bedroom.

Residing with Gill in the trailer were its owner, William Bailey (Gill’s boyfriend), who at the time was a junior in accounting at SIUC from Bone Gap, and Heather Peter (Gill’s friend of four years), from Evansville, Ind., who had graduated from SIUC in May 1996 with a degree in administration of justice.

Gill said they were all in the trailer when the blaze began.

I was in a back room and Heather and Bill were in the kitchen, she said. I thought they were cooking something when I heard the alarm go off.

I opened the door and saw the flame’s reflection on the wall in the hallway. We had just lit a candle so I thought the fire had come from that. But I saw the candle burning and the fire was on the other side of the room.

Gill said that is when the first shots of retaliation were fired.

We all took blankets and tried to bat it out, but it was too big, she said. We tried to fill buckets with water, but the fire was just too fast. We didn’t have time. We had to get out.

We all had on shorts and T-shirts. We didn’t even have any shoes on. The heat was incredible. As soon as we left, the trailer collapsed and all the windows were blown out. I remember the sound, and the smell was awful. We just had to watch everything we owned going up in flames.

Several neighbors fired their garden hoses in an attempt at containing the attacker. They triumphed in that the flames invaded no other homes.

Bailey said the Carbondale Township Fire Department arrived too late to save his trailer, but he was not overly distraught because he had a full-coverage insurance policy. Or more accurately, he thought he did.

I estimated $30,000 in damages, and I got $9,000 from the insurance company, he said. I was on my parents’ home owners’ insurance. We thought I had total coverage, but there was a misunderstanding, and I lost $21,000.

The loss was a major mental set-back for Bailey.

I was in the Navy and thought that I was ahead of the game as a college student because I owned a house and furniture, he said. I had recently bought a $3,000 computer and a washer and dryer. I had just bought so much stuff on my credit card, I lost it all and was still going to have to make payments on it. It took me awhile to accept.

Although Gill also was concerned with the loss of valuables, she was more troubled by the loss of the sentimental items.

I was more upset about losing all my pictures from high school, she said. I still have the memories, but I can’t look at my pictures and remember it.

After the insurance disappointment, the war looked bleak. Bailey and Gill had lost all of their textbooks as well as all of their personal belongings. But as they began to falter, reinforcements arrived.

The Carbondale chapter of the American Red Cross, a valuable ally, joined the battle.

The very next day they gave me a $2,000 voucher to buy food and things, Bailey said. And they gave us some clothes.

Although both Gill and Bailey expressed extreme gratitude for the help provided by the Red Cross, they were most impressed by the aid of their brothers and sisters. Gill is a member of the SIUC chapter of the Sigma Kappa sorority, and Bailey is a member of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity.

Their two respective houses, as well as the Delta Chi fraternity, joined forces.

There was just a lot of greek support all around, Bailey said. They gave us boxes of clothes. And they had a benefit for us at The Upper Deck (1215 E. Walnut St.) where they raised $500 for us so we could buy clothes and books. You hear a lot of negative things about the greek system here lately, like the Select 2000 thing, but they (the greeks) are very supportive. That’s what the greek system is all about.

I think that meant the most, just knowing how much everyone cared,” she said.

Bailey and Gill received financial support from their parents and were able to reside in the Holiday Inn, 800 E. Main St., for the rest of the fall semester. Peter, who was not in school, chose to return home.

Most of Bailey’s and Gill’s professors were sympathetic to their plight and allowed them to make up the work they missed during the two weeks they were out of class. Bailey said staying in school kept them sane.

The key is getting back to normal as fast as you can, he said. If I would have had to drop out I would have sat around and thought about it (the fire) all the time.

Not an isolated incident

Tom Manis, a duty officer at the Carbondale Township Fire Department, said such an incident is not uncommon by any means. He said trailer fires are among the most common fires in this area, and the reason is that there are a lot of aged trailers.

There are a lot of electrical problems in the older trailers in the area, he said. They burn a lot.

While there will always be accidents that cannot be avoided, Manis said there are reasonable steps mobile home residents can take to greatly decrease their odds of a tragedy.

Make sure your furnaces are cleaned two or three times a year, because the lint builds up and causes fires, he said. Also keep space heaters away from flammable objects, and don’t ever leave them on over night or when you’re not around.

Gill and Bailey now live in an apartment in town. Gill graduated with degrees in psychology and fine arts, and she is waiting for Bailey, who expects to graduate in December with a degree in accounting. They are uncertain what the future holds for them, but they both agree that this experience brought them closer emotionally. Peter has since married and moved to Denver.

Bailey and Gill occasionally look at the water-damaged photos they scavenged from the burned-out hulk that had been their home. When they do, they feel a sense of pride, a sense of victory.

It’s built our confidence to overcome something like this, he said. We beat this thing.