An off-duty volunteer firefighter is being credited with helping control a fire at a home Tuesday afternoon in Wilkes-Barre.
A grease fire started in a kitchen in a double-block home on Simpson Street and looked like it was spreading quickly until a volunteer and his co-workers jumped in to help.
The inside of 27 Simpson Street is mostly smoky and wet after the grease fire but firefighters said it could have been a lot worse. The flames could have quickly spread to the other side of the double-block home.
"The lady came out of the house screaming, crying. I say is everything alright. She went to the next door neighbor to notify her. She's yelling, 'Grease fire. Grease fire," said Robert Guy of Nanticoke.
He and his fellow construction workers were across the street when the fire started. He said thankfully one co-worker, a volunteer firefighter from Jessup, knew what to do.
"I grabbed my fire extinguisher out of the back of my truck. I ran inside. I suppressed it a little bit but the grease was going pretty bad. It was down on the floor and I got it out on the stove and then it went back up again," said Dan Bornkamp.
"All three of us ran over and when she mentioned it was a fire, he ran right over to his truck. In my opinion he did a great thing," said Ron Keener of Nanticoke.
The construction crew said it wasn't long before police and firefighters showed up to help and the flames were extinguished.
No one was injured in the fire. The house sustained a bit of smoke and water damage.
Republished with permission from WNEP-TV
