Change the Standards for HEAP and Heat Shut-Offs

My name is Harold Bell. My wife, Marsha, and I, request a moment of your time to hear our story.

On December 15th, 2013, we lost our daughter and granddaughter in a house fire in Olean, NY. The house was burned to the ground, and a probable cause has been listed as the use of portable space heaters. This has been devastating for our family.

The space heaters were used because the heat in our daughter's house was shut off. Our daughter worked two part-time jobs, but made too much money to qualify for HEAP, a service she and her family desperately needed. Without heat in a frigid Western New York winter, we believe she and her family had no other option but to use dangerous and, in this case, deathly space heaters.

We do not want any other family to go through what not only we, but the remaining member of the victims' immediate family are going through. The third resident of the aforementioned home, our teenaged granddaughter, survived this tragedy. For the rest of her life she will have to deal with the guilt and pain of this horrific, yet preventable, occurrence.

Our daughter's and our granddaughter's deaths do not have to be in vain. Please sign this petition and help us to help those who could benefit from what was denied to our daughter, a hard-working, but still struggling mother of two.