Benefit planned for family displaced by fire

UPDATE

The CK Aquaculture Association, the Oyster Association and CK School are preparing a benefit for the Berger Family who lost all they own to a fire last weekend.  It will take place on Friday, March 2, in the City Park from 4-7 p.m. The organizers have some needs and are hoping businesses and individuals can assist them with the following:
• Styrofoam boxes, large and small
• Box of foil inserts
• Items for a silent raffle
There will be entertainment, raffle , steamed clams, fried oysters, deserts and drinks
If there is any way that you can help, please contact Rose Cantwell ( 543-6346 )
 

EARLIER STORY:

Funds, clothing and household items are being collected for the family of Fred Berger after the couple and their three boys were displaced by a fire at about 3:30 a.m. Sunday at the mobile home they rented in Rosewood.

Tina Berger, a photographer whose work has appeared in the Cedar Key Beacon and Chiefland Citizen, credited two dogs that perished in the blaze with saving the family by alerting them to the fire.

"The dogs awoke my son who got up and saw the blaze," she said in a phone interview. "If it hadn't been for the dogs I don't know what would have happened. They are the heroes in this."

The Bergers were petsitting the canines for the Bobby McCabe family.

The family lost everything, including Berger's van, her camera and a computer with Berger's photos in the fire. They are staying several days at the Best Western in Chiefland courtesy of a Red Cross voucher.

Cash donations can be made to an account at any Drummond Community Bank.

Members of the community have been gathering clothing, shoes and personal items for the family.

City Commissioner Sue Colson said she is working to arrange a fundraiser with clam, oyster and fishermen in the community.  Details are to be announced later.

Cedar Key Fire Chief Robert Robinson said his department responded to the call, which was 8-10 miles outside Cedar Key, along with the Rosewood Volunteer Fire Department and Fowlers Bluff Volunteer Fire Department. Seven Cedar Key firefighters turned out and four pieces of apparatus were used, Robinson said in a phone interview.

Levy County EMS Unit 5 stationed in Cedar Key also came and checked the family members who escaped the fire.

Chiefland Fire Department, which also covered a fire that night, poaitioned a truck and crew at State Road 24 and County Road 345  to cover Cedar Key, while Fanning Springs Volunteer Fire Department also sent a crew toward the Chiefland area to provide coverage.

"We had like half a county thing on this," Robinson said.