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Safeway helps family who lost home to gas fire By Robert Plain,Ashland Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By Robert Plain,Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Aug. 1, 2006 at 2:00 AM Updated Jan 4, 2011 at 8:17 PM By Robert Plain,Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Aug. 1, 2006 at 2:00 AM Updated Jan 4, 2011 at 8:17 PM » RELATED CONTENT • Ashland Safeway becomes Haggen's in March » Social News Working the early morning shift at the Safeway deli may be one of the luckiest things that ever happened to Rochelle Phemister and her family. Because she was awake and getting ready for work at 5 a.m. on Saturday, July 22, she smelled a gas leak and her family was able to get out of their trailer at 812 South Pacific Highway in Talent before it caught fire and blew up. A natural gas line outside the trailer came apart and caused gas to leak under the trailer. When it met up with the pilot light for the water heater, just minutes before the family got out of the house, the fire started. Now, the managers at Safeway are organizing a donation box to help Phemister and her family recover from their loss. "Rochelle only had the clothes on her back," Tina Cowger, an assistant manager at Safeway said. "Unfortunately, it was a Safeway uniform." Phemister, a student at Rogue Community College, is the only one in her family of seven who is bringing home a pay check right now. Her parents work too, but because they are both college students in a work study program, they only work during the school year. Phemister "has been extremely stressed out," Cowger said. "She's the only one bringing home any money. She feels like this is all on her shoulders. Her spirit is good but she is worried about her family." To help, Safeway has started a community donation campaign in which anyone who wants to help the family out can drop off their donation at the Ashland supermarket on Siskiyou Boulevard. Jeff Travis, who had plans to marry Phemister's mother Tracy McKinnis in November, said the family "lost almost everything." They didn't have insurance, McKinnis said. Between all their clothes, furniture, computer games and family heirlooms, he estimated the goods they lost to be valued at between $10,000 and $15,000. "Mostly we need a place to live," he said. "We've been out every day, looking between Ashland and South Medford." He and McKinnis have three other children who still attend Phoenix High School so he hopes to be settled into a new home by the time they start school in September. But, he added, Southern Oregon Red Cross and AVISTA Utilities have been very good at helping them get back on their feet. The Red Cross has bought them all new clothes already and AVISTA, the natural gas company whose broken pipe caused the leak, has paid for their hotel accommodations. "AVISTA is being very nice," McKinnis said. "They paid for the hotel for two weeks and are trying to find us a new place." So helpful is AVISTA being that McKinnis said they don't even feel they need a lawyer to help them through this period. Though McKinnis said although they appreciate all the help, it's a somewhat awkward situation. "I have mixed emotions about it," she said. "I'm not used to asking for help. But we've got to do what we've got to do. We've got kids to think about." Staff writer can be reached at 482-3456 x. 226 or By Robert Plain,Ashland Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By Robert Plain,Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Aug. 1, 2006 at 2:00 AM Updated Jan 4, 2011 at 8:17 PM » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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