Neighbors help during massive senior living center fire in West Chester

West Chester, Pa. (WTXF) - Dozens of neighbors rushed to the scene of a massive late-night fire that injured nearly 30 people at a West Chester senior living community, wrapping the elderly in blankets and carrying them to ambulances in makeshift gurneys.

As firefighters doused the smoldering wreckage of what was once Barclay Friends, the remnants of a night of terror sat roadside out front. Nursing home neighbor Sandy DePhillips reflected on the sight outside her front window late Thursday night.

"I said, 'Oh my gosh!' I was just shocked," she said.

Wind-swept flames engulfed much of the huge facility before the first firefighters could arrive.

And so DePhillips and her neighbors, including students from West Chester University raced over, bringing clothing to warm the victims.

"I got blankets around them the residents who were out there in their robes, their slippers-- no coat, no shoes," she explained.

Scores of elderly residents--some in ill-health-- had to be moved quickly from the fire scene.

"They needed a wheelchair. And I said, 'I have one in my garage.' I ran home and got my wheelchair," DePhillips said.

Then, came the chaos of linking residents to frantic family members. DePhillips ran home once again to grab her cell phone.

"I made phone calls for them to their families to let them know to find their son's name who lives in the area (and) called him," she explained.

All day Friday, family members came to the fire scene to reflect on their near-loss.

Pete Petty's 96-year-old mother-in-law was inside.

"She lost everything. Everybody in there lost everything. But she's fine. And that's the main thing."

95-year-old Lucille Stanton got out as well. Her daughter Stacy still reliving the phone call saying the place was on fire.

"Panic. because you want her to be OK," Stanton said.

On the morning after, nearly everyone we met said the same thing: it could have been worse.

And it would have been, were it not for neighbors like Sandy DePhillips. "I just felt like I had to do it. I'm a neighbor here. I'm a community. They are part of the community."