GALLAGHER: Fire destroys prom dresses

Sisters Johanna and Samantha Blum extinguished a fire in the second-floor bathroom of their Manilla, Iowa, home last Saturday.Seeing smoke in the bathroom ceiling, they cleared out and called 911.The pair survived the blaze, as did their brother, 8-year-old Jack Blum, and his buddy Noah Fromm, also 8.The boys were playing shortly after 7 p.m. when they heard a crash in the bathroom. They opened the door and saw an exhaust fan in flames. They shouted to Johanna, 16, and Samantha, 18, for help.
"The girls did the right thing," said their mother, Shonda Blum. "They got everyone out safely."At the time, Shonda was working her shift as a nurse at the nursing home in town. A friend called and told her the Manilla Volunteer Fire Department was on its way to her home.
"I was the only nurse on staff at the time, so I couldn't leave," Shonda Blum said. "I was there for 45 minutes."She learned immediately her children were safe. The boys joined her at the nursing home. The girls went to a neighbor's home to watch firefighters battle the blaze, which apparently was blamed on an electrical malfunction.
Paul Davis Restoration Company in Sioux City laundered all the family's clothing and returned it to Manilla on Friday, six days following the fire.However, there were clothing items destroyed.We need more than tuxes and dresses at Oscars.Namely, eight prom dresses. They'd been dropped off by friends for Samantha and Johanna to try.I met Johanna and her mother on Thursday in Denison while doing a story on how local residents  reacted to news that the Tyson Fresh Meats plant may close in 2013. Ana Nieto, owner of Creaciones y Detalles on Main Street, worked for six years at the Tyson plant. She credited her work there with funding this business enterprise.
Blum said she and her family enjoy the shopping variety and prices offered in small shops in Denison. Plus, she said, it beats traveling more than an hour one way to purchase something like a prom dress.Johanna tried four dresses Thursday. With Nieto's help, she found the right one on the fourth try. It cost $299.What about the dresses lost in the fire? Blum figures they'll be covered by homeowners' insurance, but she's not positive. An insurance pro I spoke with said a homeowner must be negligent to be liable in a case like this.
The owners of the dresses may be able to file claims to recover the cost of a dress, at least any amount exceeding their deductible.Samantha's old dress was the only formal gown that survived the fire. The Blums had kept it, hoping someone else could use it this year. Samantha's new dress, one she found recently, hadn't been delivered yet.The Blums will have dresses for the IKM-Manning High School prom on April 21.Eight lost dresses concerned Shonda Blum, but didn't consume her. She focused on her children and her son's buddy, thankful all four emerged unharmed.