Chris Haller is pictured with his wife Elizabeth and daughter Aleasha outside their Busti Stillwater Road home. A fundraiser has been started to help the family after the property was destroyed by fire May 2. P-J photo by Eric Tichy

Chris Haller and his family were camping late on May 2 when his daughter received word of a nearby house fire. That blaze, at 2924 Busti Stillwater Road, just happened to be the family’s home.

“My heart just fell to my feet,” Haller remembered as his family rushed home, located only a few miles from the campsite.

Haller, his wife Elizabeth and daughter Aleasha got back before the first fire engines arrived on scene. He said they found flames and smoke pouring from their home, and before long the entire structure was engulfed.

“I’m still in shock,” Haller told The Post-Journal this week. “I’ve been around fires and I know that you let (firefighters) do their work, but you just pray that they can knock it down quick.”

Haller is certainly familiar with the fire service. He has been a member of the Kiantone Volunteer Fire Department for more than 20 years and is currently considered a life member. Elizabeth Haller, who works at UPMC Chautauqua, and his daughter are auxiliary members with the fire department.

Photo by Dan Kohler

The sight of their home engulfed by flames was tough to endure.

“I honestly don’t remember much from that night,” Elizabeth Haller said. “I had my face in my hands just bawling.”

The fire was reported by a passerby around 9:45 p.m. Volunteers from more than a half-dozen fire departments were called to help douse the flames.

The Chautauqua County Fire Investigation Team later determined the fire was accidentally caused by combustible materials being in close proximity to an overheated water pump.

Haller said the home, owned for 22 years, was destroyed in the fire along with just about everything inside. He and his wife recently made their last mortgage payment and the pair was looking forward to making repairs around the house.

“We were hoping to remodel some things,” he said.

A fundraiser through Facebook was set up shortly after the fire by a family friend, Elizabeth Smith, and within two weeks more than $11,500 has been raised through about 200 donors. Haller said the money will help the family begin to rebuild their lives.

“I struggle to find the right word to describe it,” Haller said of the community rallying to his family in recent weeks. “The word, it’s something bigger than amazing the support we have gotten from family, friends, from people we have never met. It goes to show you just how strong a community can really be.”

Elizabeth Haller expressed similar sentiments.

“I am so overwhelmed with all of the help we’ve been getting,” she said. “Without all of this I wouldn’t know what to do.”

Smith described the Hallers as true pillars of the community.

“If you know anything about this family, you know they’d give their last penny to anyone in need, but always refuse a hand out,” Smith said in the fundraiser’s description. “They believe in the value of hard work, and have always worked very, very hard for everything they have.”

Haller said he is hoping to rebuild on the same site of the previous home, though at the moment a lot of unknowns remain. Nonetheless, he said he is not dwelling on what happened.

“You have to start somewhere,” he said. “We’ll manage, whether or not that’s with a smaller house.”

Donations can be made on Facebook by searching, “The Haller Family Fire Relief Fundraiser.”