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Residents begin to move in to River’s Edge condominiums in Pittston

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<p>WEST PITTSTON &#8212; Temperatures were no higher than 20 degrees on Friday, but that didn&#8217;t stop the West Pittston Hose Company from spreading the Valentine&#8217;s Day love.</p><p>The hose company is continuing its annual tradition of selling roses in the parking lot of Driscoll&#8217;s Home Center at 720 Wyoming Ave. in the days leading up to the holiday.</p><p>Members of the hose company can be found at the site from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on <ins>Friday,</ins> Saturday and Sunday selling red and pastel roses.</p><p>Two dozen pastel roses are $25 and one dozen red roses is $30, but customers can by single red roses for $5 or three red roses in a vase for $15.</p><p>The roses are kept in a heated tent because they must be kept at 40 degrees, said West Pittston Hose Company Chief John Hood.</p><p>It was 7 degrees when the hose company members began setting up at 7 a.m. on Friday and Hood said it took about 30 minutes for the tent to reach a good temperature before they could begin displaying the flowers.</p><p>Hood said the department has been selling Valentine&#8217;s Day roses for the past 10 years in the exact same spot.</p><p>&#8220;We went down to a fire show in Harrisburg because we were looking for a fundraiser and we saw this down there,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We thought we&#8217;d give it a shot and 10 years later we&#8217;re still going strong with it.&#8221;</p><p>This year marks the first year the hose company shared the parking lot with a business, as the lot was vacant after CVS Pharmacy moved from the Wyoming Avenue location to the intersection of Tunkhannock and Wyoming avenues in the mid-2000s.</p><p>Liz Driscoll, owner of Driscoll&#8217;s Home Center was thrilled to have the hose company continue its holiday tradition.</p><p>&#8220;We welcomed them with open arms to use the lot without hesitation&#8221; she said. &#8220;We are very supportive of the West Pittston Hose Company and helping their cause.&#8221;</p><p>With over 1,300 units of roses, Hood said they are ordered and delivered from Neal&#8217;s Flower Shop in New York City.</p><p>All proceeds raised from selling roses are put back into the hose company and roses that aren&#8217;t sold are sent back to Neal&#8217;s Flower Shop.</p><p>Members of the community braved the cold to buy roses for loved ones, including John Birochak of Duryea, who was buying roses for his wife of 23 years, Luciane.</p><p>&#8220;This is only part of it,&#8221; said Birochak. &#8220;She&#8217;s going to get more roses and candy.&#8221;</p><p>Birochak said he buys his wife roses every Valentine&#8217;s Day, but this was only the third time he them from the West Pittston Hose Company, of which he said he was proud to help out.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s great to serve the community, even in the smallest ways,&#8221; Birochak said. &#8220;These people that risk their lives are unbelievable. They go out there and they fight fires and do all the service they do. They&#8217;re great people.&#8221;</p><p>Hood said they will begin planning next year&#8217;s sale as soon as this one concludes.</p><p>&#8220;When we finish up with this we&#8217;ll tell (Neal&#8217;s Flower Shop) we&#8217;re interested for next year and then about two months out (in December) they&#8217;ll call us and we&#8217;ll set everything up,&#8221; said Hood. &#8220;We call them every night with totals to how much we sold, and then we always tell them we&#8217;re interested in doing this again next year.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">John Birochak of Duryea, left, buys a dozen roses for his wife from Vicki Hood of the West Pittston Hose Company during the company&#8217;s 10th annual Valentine&#8217;s Day rose sale at Driscoll Home Center in West Pittston on Friday morning. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/web1_TTL021316Roses_jf_1.jpg</photo0><caption0>John Birochak of Duryea, left, buys a dozen roses for his wife from Vicki Hood of the West Pittston Hose Company during the company&#8217;s 10th annual Valentine&#8217;s Day rose sale at Driscoll Home Center in West Pittston on Friday morning. </caption0><photoCredit0>Bill Tarutis | For Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>West Pittston Hose Company holding annual rose sale this weekend</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jimmy Fisher</p><p>jfisher@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Valentine&#8217;s Day rose sale</strong></p><p>The West Pittston Fire Hose Company will be selling roses for Valentine&#8217;s Day in Driscoll&#8217;s Home Center parking lot, 720 Wyoming Ave., from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. <ins>12,</ins> 13 and 14. Prices include:</p><p>Pastel roses, $25 for two dozen</p><p>Red roses, $30 for one dozen</p><p>Single roses, $5</p><p>Three roses in a vase, $15</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jimmy Fisher at 570-704-3972 or on Twitter @SD_JimmyFisher</p></shirttailMeta></div>

West Pittston Hose Company holding rose sale for Valentine’s Day in front of Driscoll’s Home Center Feb. 12-14