Family escapes fire, but loses beloved home
By Ed Nadolski
Editor in Chief
Standing outside her burned out and waterlogged home Tuesday, M.T. Boyle was a roiling stew of mixed emotions.
She said she was eternally grateful for the heroic actions of her 15-year-old daughter – who roused the five others that were in the home early Saturday morning when a fire broke out – and she was incredibly sad to see the home she and her husband built high on a hill in Burlington devastated by the flames.
“It’s really surreal,” Boyle said. “I’m so grateful we’re alive. But we loved this house. Tim and I planned every aspect of this house – it’s such a home for us.”
Tim is M.T.’s husband, Racine County Circuit Judge Tim Boyle, who happens to be presiding over a prominent murder trial this week. The demands of the case make it difficult for Judge Boyle to step away, according to M.T., who is senior manager of special projects for Racine County.
Nevertheless, the couple is doing its best to pick up the pieces in the aftermath of the fire in their home at 708 Oak Street.
Celebration then horror
Friday evening began with a festive atmosphere, according to M.T., as she and her husband were joined by a friend of Tim’s from law school and his wife and daughter at a performance of the musical “Newsies” at Burlington High School.
The Boyle’s daughter, Lily, 15, was a member of the cast.
After the show the Boyles returned home with additional friends and family members to celebrate the performance.
It was about midnight when the Boyles went to bed.
A little more than two hours later M.T. said she was roused by Lily pounding on their door and shouting for them to get out because the house was on fire. Lily then called 911.
“She literally saved our lives,” M.T. said. “She was the hero here.”
According to M.T., Lily’s bedroom is on the second floor of the house adjacent to the garage. Lily was awakened by the sound of crackling in the wall next to her bed. It was the sound of the fire, which apparently started in the garage and had progressed to just inches from Lily’s bed on the exterior of the home.
M.T. said it would have been a matter of “minutes” before the smoke and flames penetrated Lily’s bedroom.
To read the entire story, see the March 17 edition of the Burlington Standard Press.
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