SHAMOKIN - Quick work by the police chief and city firefighters saved a South Diamond Street home from further damage after a pot of grease exploded on a stove Wednesday afternoon.
Crews were called to the home of Roxann Feese, 50, of 230 S. Diamond St., at 12:55 p.m. for a kitchen blaze. Feese said she was making some food when the fire occurred.
"I was making a salad and went to boil some eggs for it," she said. "I accidently turned on the wrong burner."
When she realized her mistake, Feese said she reached for the pot to remove it.
"That's when it exploded and burned my hair," she said. Part of her red hair on the left side of her head was burned short, but she wasn't injured.
Feese said after extinguishing her hair, she woke up her daughter, Jessica Wagner, 32, to help get the pets out of the home and call 911.
Firefighters gave credit to Shamokin Police Chief Darwin Tobias for going into the home with a fire extinguisher.
"I would say he got about 90 percent of the fire knocked down before we entered the building," Shamokin Deputy Fire Chief Bruce Rogers said at the scene.
Personnel had the scene under control within a matter of minutes, limiting the damage to the kitchen.
"For a daytime fire, everyone worked together to make this a very quick and great stop," Rogers said in referencing the typical light turnout of firefighters for daytime calls.
Residents of a neighboring home, Harry, 90, and Mary Mattis, 88, were evacuated due to smoke in their home.
Their son, H. Robert Mattis said there was no damage to the structure, and firefighters were using ventilation fans to clear the building.
Responding to the call were all of Shamokin Fire Bureau's apparatus, Coal Township's Maine Fire Company and AREA Services Ambulance.
The Anthracite Fire Company ladder truck out of Mount Carmel was also called, due to the home being part of an extensive series of row homes on South Diamond Street, but it was recalled when the fire was quickly extinguished.