A sinkhole, developed during an intense storm which passed through the area July 9, left a home at 291 Ridings Circle, Macungie, condemned and uninhabitable.

Before the home was declared condemned July 10, firefighters from the Macungie Volunteer Fire Company, neighbors and borough officials moved the belongings of Mike Menard and his wife, Laurie, out of the rented condo home and onto the front lawn, covering the belongings with tarps in anticipation of more rain.

Menard declared the firefighters were “real heroes in my mind.” Menard was out of town July 9 and returned to find his belongings removed to the front lawn before the sinkhole could possibly make the home unsafe to enter. The Menards’ belongings were then packed into a rental truck for transport to a new location.

“We planned to move to Tennessee by the end of the month,” Menard said, “but this was sure not the way we planned to leave Pennsylvania.”

In anticipation the home would probably be condemned, Menard said the volunteers worked incredibly hard to get his belongings safely out of the structure.

“They were extremely kind and compassionate in what they did for us,” Menard said. “They are real heroes.”