In the past few days, three different fires in Oswego County have destroyed three area families’ houses, leaving them homeless.

At 2:57 p.m., Sunday, the Oswego County 911 Call Center received a report of a structure fire at the Bristol residence, 821 Dutch Ridge Road. The Scriba Fire Department was the lead fire agency and was assisted by Minetto, New Haven and Mexico fire departments.

The blaze was a fully involved house fire, completely destroying the structure, leaving seven adults and one child homeless. Clark Bristol lived at the house and is currently staying on the property with his sister and part of the family, who are all living in an old RV. “It’s a total loss,” Bristol said. “It went up fast, it was hot. It was hard to tell what was what.”

Not only did the Bristol family lose their house, but they also lost some pets in the fire. The Red Cross responded to the scene to provide emergency assistance for the family.

Caroline Bristol, Dorothy Lomire, Cindy Jennings and Ella Shatraw all banded together right after the fire to organize a benefit for the Bristol family. A chicken barbecue will be held June 7 starting around noon at Old Timer’s on county Route 1. Karaoke and other music will be provided. Anyone interested in donating to the benefit or to the family can call 561-3597, 561-3597 or 342-9624.

Even though Bristol lost his house and his pets, he had a positive attitude about the tragic event. “It happens,” he said. “The only thing you can do is trudge forward.”

Also, Sunday evening, the 911 Call Center received a report of a fire in Hastings at 9:45 p.m. The Central Square Fire Department was the lead fire agency and responded to the blaze at 44 Barker Road. According to the 911 Center, the Central Square Fire Department was assisted by the Hastings Fire Department among others at the fully engulfed house fire. The fire departments were back at their stations at 1:02 a.m. Tuesday. The Central Square Fire Department could not be reached for comment.

At 6:53 p.m., Monday, the Oswego Fire Department responded to a structure fire located at 87 Ontario St. Sarah Mangano lived at the house with her 2-year-old son, Mark. Mangano was at work at the time of the fire and Amanda Laclair and Zachary Thompson, who were watching Mark, were able to escape from the house unharmed.

When the first fire units arrived at the scene three minutes after 911 received the call, smoke was visible from the rear of the two-story wooden building. As firefighters were bringing the hose to the back door, the fire blew out two windows as they passed by.Once inside the house, firefighters were able to extinguish flames in a vestibule, bathroom/laundry room and the kitchen area. It took five to six minutes to bring the fire under control.

According to Deputy Fire Chief Mark McManus, there was heavy fire damage to the three rooms located in the rear of the building. He also noted that there was water damage and heavy smoke and heat damage to the rest of the structure, which was left uninhabitable.

An investigation determined the fire was caused by a large amount of debris that was behind the dryer in the laundry room, which was ignited by the heat from the dryer, and spread across the walls and floor of the room. The investigators also ruled that it was an accidental fire.

The Disaster Action Team of the Onondaga-Oswego chapter of the Red Cross responded to the fire to provide emergency assistance to Mangano and her son. Mangano stated that she planned to stay overnight with relatives Monday.