Quick Actions by Pa. Firefighters Keep Damage Down

July 18--COAL TOWNSHIP -- Quick work by responders kept damage from a fire to a minimum at a three-story apartment building on West Arch Street, Coal Township, late Wednesday afternoon.

Fire crews were called to the building at 1246 W. Arch St. at 4:57 p.m. for a report of smoke in the structure. Within 10 minutes, despite heavy smoke, the blaze was extinguished. Damage was limited to a living room on the second floor, with smoke and heat damage on the first and third floors.

"These are the kind of stops you hope for on days like this," Coal Township Fire Chief Russ Feese said.

Resident sees smoke

Crews were called to the apartment building after the third-floor resident, Caitlynn Dewitt, 18, arrived home and saw smoke coming out of the second floor of the building.

"When I got here and looked around, I saw the smoke just pouring out," Dewitt said. "When I saw the smoke coming from the second floor through a fan, I ran and called 9-1-1."

Authorities said the fire started in the second-floor apartment, which is rented by Jen Lisiewicz, 36, who lives there with her fiance, Andrew Beal, and their eight-month old son, Remington.

"We left the house just an hour before, and nothing was wrong," Lisiewicz said.

"We were grocery shopping when we got the phone call, and just raced here," Beal said.

Upon arriving, firefighters did have difficulty entering the structure, since the only access was a long stairway up to the second floor from the rear of the home.

"When we opened the door, the smoke was really pouring out," one firefighter said. "Once we got past the smoke and could ventilate the windows, we got a handle on it."

Feese said the fire started in the front room of the Lisiewicz's apartment and then extended into an adjacent closet.

Feese said the damage was limited to that front room, with apartments on the first floor occupied by Mark Shuey, and Dewitt's residence sustaining heat and water damage. The building is owned by Joel Stafford, of Turbotville.

The chief said all the occupants were displaced from their homes due to the electrical power being shut off. The American Red Cross was assisting the second- and third-floor occupants, and Shuey is staying with a relative.

Second alarm

Fire officials immediately called in a second alarm in the fire, not because of the intensity of the blaze but because they wanted to ensure there would be sufficient manpower to combat the 90-degree temperature firefighters faced while attacking the fire in full gear.

"On a day like this, its good to have people available in this heat. Stopping the blaze that quickly is always helpful, too," Feese said.

Feese said a state police fire marshal will be at the scene this morning to help investigate the cause of the blaze.

Catty-corner to the scene was another reminder as how fire can quickly spread. Three homes remain boarded up and damaged from a May 25 fire where police had to kick in the door to wake up the residence.

The cause of that fire, which destroyed the home at 1239 W. Arch St. and damaged homes at 1237 and 1235 W. Arch, was ruled undetermined by a state police fire marshal.