SHAMOKIN TWP. - Paul Shingara's mobile home on Route 61 outside Shamokin is little more than a shell following an early-morning fire on Christmas.
"We could see from our kitchen window the flames," said Stacey Knapik, who lives half a block away. "They looked pretty high. Then the flames coming up from the trees and stuff. Yeah, it was pretty engulfed."
Half the mobile home was in flames by the time crews from the Stonington Volunteer Hose Company arrived.
Paul Shingara and his girlfriend rushed out of the burning house safely.
Stacey Knapik says volunteer firefighters were at the scene so quickly, they may have kept the fire from spreading to a nearby garage.
"They knocked it down pretty quick. And, I was impressed with that," said Stacey.
But, even a quick response from a volunteer fire department is no match for a burning mobile home. And, like so many, this one went up in flames so quickly, it left nothing.
It even reduced household appliances including the stove and the washing machine to charred metal.
Fire crews say Paul Shingara had no time to put on shoes and suffered a cut on his foot has he fled the fire.