POTTSVILLE, Pa. — The Pottsville Fire Chief says it was the quick work of fire crews that prevented a fire inside a rowhome from spreading to other connecting rowhomes on that block.
The chief says flames broke out at a rowhome at 914 West Race Street just before 10 a.m.
The man who lives there was at home at the time; he was taken to the hospital with burns to his arms, hands, and feet.
Susan Rivera lives across the street.
"I went to take my daughter to work, and I saw a whole bunch of smoke. And I have my granddaughter and my daughter at the house, so I got worried,” said Rivera.
Taryn Rorabaugh and her brother Christian Morasco say a neighbor alerted them to the fire.
"There was a woman who was coming along, I think this way, knocking on all the doors,” said Rorabaugh. "She came to our door, and the curtain was cracked, and she made eye contact with me. And she was like, get everybody out, there's fire.”
"I was sleeping. I got woken up, and I was really scared," added Morasco.
The fire chief says there are 12 rowhomes on this block, all connected to each other, and he praised his crews for keeping the flames contained to just the homes around 914.
"They were able to get to the fire and knock it down before it got to the third floor, that's what usually happens with rowhome fires, it gets up in the third floor and just goes in both directions,’ said Pottsville Fire Chief James Misstishin.
Rorabaugh and Morasco live two houses down from the fire and were worried flames would spread to their home.
"I was like, oh no, it's going to get to our house, but there were a bunch of [fire fighters], and they got it out pretty fast,” said Rorabaugh.
While the fire chief had no word on how the man who lives here is doing, he did say a dog and three cats were killed by the fire.
The fire was ruled accidental.