MAHANOY CITY, Pa. — All Harry Wagner could do was watch as the place he's called home for 44 years burned.
"I said to my wife, 'come over here and smell this, something's burning next door and by that time one of my neighbors came running down the street and said, 'get out of your house, it's on fire.' And that's how quick our house filled up with smoke," said Harry Wagner, Mahanoy City.
Wagner also happens to be the president of Citizens Fire Company in Mahanoy City.
Firefighter Aaron Dombrowski took a video after the fire broke out around 9:30 p.m. Thursday.
It started in a condemned home on East Pine Street.
Wagner tells us a man was living there: 49-year-old Brendon Hasara.
He was arrested for arson, causing a catastrophe, reckless endangerment, and trespassing.
Wagner says the squatting problem has been going on for several years.
"This is the end result. He shouldn't have been in there period," said Wagner.
Two firefighters were hurt but are expected to be okay.
Five people in neighboring homes made it out safely.
But Wagner fears he lost everything.
"I just, you know, we've had it. And like I said, now we have to move out of our house after 44 years. It's destroyed," said Wagner.