Whiteside County attorney, family displaced by fire

BY ANDREW WALTERS SVN REPORTER awalters@svnmail.com There isn't much left of Janet and David Buttron's home on Flagg Road in Chana. Fortunately for the Whiteside County attorney, her home office - and the client records it contained - was mostly spared in a house fire early Wednesday morning. The fire began in the bedroom of 15-year-old Helen Buttron, apparently started by a candle left burning that night, her mom said. The frantic girl woke her mother up to tell her a table was on fire, and when Buttron rushed in, she was met by a wall of flame. "We barely all got out alive," Buttron said. "We lost almost everything, all our clothes and furniture." Buttron, whose husband is a bus driver for First Student Inc. in Rock Falls, is worried about her clients, who have not been able to reach her since the fire. "I have to find a new place to live and establish an office, which I hope to do within the next week and a half," she said. Save for some funny smells and a bit of water damage, most of her files are intact. "That is compliments of the Oregon, Franklin Grove and Ashton fire departments," whose firefighters threw a tarp over what was left of her office while putting out the flames, she said. Until the insurance company gets everything sorted out, the Red Cross is putting the family up in a hotel. Clothing is being accepted for Helen at Rochelle High School, and furniture is being collected at First Student Inc., 1902 First Ave., Rock Falls. Reach Andrew Walters at (815) 284-2222 or (800) 798-4085, ext. 522.