ETNA GREEN -ÊEven after the loss of almost everything they owned in a house fire Christmas Eve, the Jim and Penny Railsback family, Etna Green, still witnessed the miracle of the holiday.

At 12:27 a.m. Tuesday, the Railsbacks' residence, 492 S. CR 900W, was gutted by fire. The family was able to salvage several wrapped Christmas presents from the fire, but the rest of the house was destroyed when the fire rekindled about 4:49 a.m.

No injuries were reported, but, save for the few gifts recovered, the family experienced a total loss.

That's when the miracle began.

Carl Wireman, also a firefighter like Jim Railsback and with whom the Railsbacks are staying, said after the fire, people who knew about the fire began making donations to the Railsbacks to help them. After the story about the fire ran in Tuesday's Times-Union, the Kosciusko County Sheriff's Department became inundated with phone calls from people wanting to help the Railsbacks, he said, and the KCSD gave Wireman's phone number out to those who wanted to help.

Instead of wrapping gifts and baking as planned Christmas Eve, Wireman said, his wife had to organize and handle the calls and visitors who wanted to help out the Railsbacks.

"It was such an emotional day," said Wireman.

A neighbor had to be called to the Wireman home to help.

"It was strange," said Wireman. "It was people not related" or anything.

The Dollar General Store, Mentone, put a can out in their store to accept donations for the Railsbacks. That raised approximately $250 for the family. The Etna Green First Responders stopped by with money for the family.

All told, Wireman said, they have a four-page list of everyone who contributed to help the Railsbacks so far. The list keeps growing. So much was collected, he said, they had to move the donated items out to his shed to store them.

The Railsbacks found more help at the American Red Cross, where, Wireman said, "they bent over backwards getting this guy up and going. ... The outpouring was tremendous. The newspaper article was tremendous."

After reading the story in the newspaper, Wireman said, people told him they just stopped what they were doing so they could help the Railsbacks. Some looked through their closets for items. Others went shopping for clothing for the family. At times, there were 15-20 people at the Wireman home while the phone kept ringing off the hook, he said, all wanting to help.

"I've got to thank the newspaper for that," he said. "The story was tremendous. It got the news out. The story was a blessing."

Dave Morales, Toys for Tots, also provided the Railsbacks with bags of toys and clothing for the three Railsback children.

Wireman said it "really was" a great Christmas for him, even though the fire and outpouring didn't happen to him. He said it made him feel very "blessed" because of so much that was done for his friend Jim and his family.

"That is what Christmas is about. It was so absolutely amazing," Wireman said.

There's even a possibility, he said, a woman may have a house for the Railsbacks to stay in rent-free for a while until they are able to get back on their feet.

Wireman said he wants to recognize all the people who donated items to the Railsbacks.

A fund has been established by Jon and Sandi Schaeffer at Lake City Bank in Jim and Penny Railsback's names as a means to allow people to help them start over. Contributions can be made at any Lake City Bank branch. Since the Railsbacks are going to have to replace everything for their home, the money from the fund will help them do that.

All the contributions and help, Wireman said, are "very, very appreciated ... the true meaning of Christmas." [[In-content Ad]]