Aug 27, 2009 5 min read

CARDALE – With tears streaming down her face, Doreen Bugai walked through the sodden and blackened remains of her daughter’s mobile home in Redstone Township Wednesday morning. “This was all new and the wiring had just been put in,” Bugai said, as she pointed out appliances inside the home as her son Ed led her through the burned mobile home. Bugai said the home was destroyed by fire early Wednesday, just days before her daughter, Damara Bugai, and her two children were set to move in. “I just don’t understand why someone would do this,” Doreen Bugai said. Doreen Bugai of Dunbar Township said she and Fayette County Habitat for Humanity recently placed the mobile home on the lot located on East Street in Cardale with the intention of establishing a permanent residence for Damara Bugai and her children. However, that dream was shattered when fire ripped through the home around 2:40 a.m. “I came home from work and saw flames coming from the door and a window and called 911,” neighbor Brian Crawley said. Volunteer firefighters from several stations quickly arrived on scene but the home still sustained significant fire, smoke and water damage. State police fire marshal Cpl. Russ Freed said he examined the home early Wednesday and determined that the blaze was intentionally set. The fire comes less than two weeks after neighbors complained to the Redstone Township supervisors that the mobile home placed on the property was more than 30 years old and in poor condition. Habitat for Humanity affiliate manager Jackie Shrum said that she followed all codes and regulations in proceeding with the project on East Street. “All the wiring was done, and all the setbacks were met,” Shrum said. “We got variances and had met all the legal standards to place the trailer here. This was going to be a quick fix for a family in need of a home. In my years with Habitat for Humanity, I have never seen anything like this.” Shrum said the nonprofit organization received a variance from the Fayette County Office of Planning and Zoning allowing the mobile home to be two feet closer to the property line than called for in the regulations. While she said that the mobile home had not been refurbished on the exterior, it would have been refinished after the interior work was completed. Doreen Bugai said the project cost her more than $6,000 and had become a community project for some. “The Greater Bethel Baptist Church in Uniontown donated their time here over the last few days helping seal the roof and work on the windows,” Doreen Bugai said. “We had so much help from many people. It was a blessing.” While she said she is thankful for the help she received in trying to make a home for her daughter, she said she is particularly chilled by an incident that occurred a few weeks ago at the East Street lot when a resident approached her. “I was asked how I could put my child and grandchildren in a death trap to burn alive,” Bugai said. “Now the house has burned. Apparently my family was not welcome here.” Some neighboring residents were at Doreen Bugai’s side Wednesday as she inspected the remains of the home. “We have Crime Watch people that live up and down this street, yet no one saw anything,” Chris Teets said. “People complain about drugs being sold here, but when something like this happens, no one says a thing.” Leah Saluga agreed. “I went to a Neighborhood Crime Watch meeting recently and tried to let people know that Damara Bugai was a good person. She works as a nurse at Highlands Hospital in Connellsville, and that this trailer would be fixed up,” Saluga said. “I was not allowed to continue to speak and was removed from the meeting. I don’t understand why this happened.” Freed said while there is speculation by some Cardale residents regarding who set the fire, no suspects have been named and the blaze remains under investigation by state police. Now that the home has been destroyed, Doreen Bugai said her daughter and grandchildren will live with a relative until she can find a residence. She and Shrum said they are trying to take a positive outlook. “This project is done,” Shrum said. “This family will not move in here, but we will find a safe place for them. In fact, we just received a three-bedroom trailer that is ready for use. Now we just have to find a place to put it.” “I helped so many people in this community cope with their diabetes and I am glad I did, but it is hard to understand how someone could be so vicious,” Doreen Bugai, who has worked as a patient advocate for nearly a decade in Fayette County, said. “But I do hope God blesses the people who did this, and now, with the help of Habitat for Humanity, I will find a place where my family can live safely and are welcome.”