By William R. Toler
Richmond County Daily Journal
HAMLET, N.C. — “You never expect it to be yours.”
That was Hamlet Fire Department Lt. Robin Leviner’s response 16 hours after responding to a fire at his own home.
According to Lt. Trey Goodwin, the call of a fire on Third Street came in around 12:30 a.m. Monday. Dispatchers said the person who called it in was riding down U.S. 74 Business, Goodwin said.
Leviner, who has been with the department more than 25 years and is also a paramedic, was the acting lieutenant at the time.
He said the original call didn’t give an address, so he didn’t make the connection to it being his home.
Leviner said the flames were already through the roof when he arrived on scene.
He said the first thing he did was to check and make sure his 17-year-old son, Cody, wasn’t home. Neither his wife nor his younger twin sons were home at the time.
After he noticed the car was gone, his next effort was to try to get the family’s pet Chihuahua out, which he was unable to do. The dog’s body was found later that morning.
“It’s just like losing a family member,” he said.
Goodwin said it took crews about 45 minutes to get the flames under control and several hours were spent putting out hot spots. Crews were on scene until about 4:30 a.m.
He said the home was a total loss, with the bulk of the damage being in the master bedroom. Goodwin added that crews will go back out to try and find the point of origin for the blaze.
“It’s a little close to home,” Goodwin said. “When it’s one of your own, it tends to leave a mark.”
Neighbors and family friends stopped by to survey the damaged home Monday afternoon.
“He’s worked hard on this house for it to be gone,” said Cathy Manship, who said the Leviners moved in around 17 years ago, following several of her family members. “He’s a good person. You just ask anybody in the city of Hamlet about Robin Leviner.”
Leviner’s younger brother Josh, who lives in Anson County, also came by.
He said he wasn’t sure where his brother’s family would be staying, but said they had plenty of options with multiple family members who would “open the doors for them.”
“I don’t know the feeling he had in his stomach when he got that call,” Josh Leviner said, but added he once had a similar encounter when getting called to his grandmother’s when she went into cardiac arrest. “I can imagine hearing your own address is an emotion like no other.”
Cody Leviner is starting pitcher and a shortstop for the Richmond Raiders baseball team and will be attending Western Carolina University on a scholarship in the fall. His two younger brothers also play sports.
“The biggest thing is getting the kids settled back in,” Robin Leviner said. “That’s their home, that’s their memories.”
It’s the loss of the physical reminders of memories for his children — pictures, medallions, trophies and Cody’s first home run ball — that Leviner said “hurts so much.”
“You can buy new wood and build a new house,” he said, “(but) that’s stuff you can’t get back.”
Leviner said people from throughout the community — including churches and other emergency responders — have been calling to see how they can help his family.
“The support of the community has been overwhelming,” he said. “I can’t name them all.”
“People just want to help and that’s a blessing,” he added. “There’s still good people out there.”
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©2015 the Richmond County Daily Journal (Rockingham, N.C.)