TREVORTON - An unattended pot of grease was to blame for a fire that damaged a home in this village Tuesday afternoon.
Margaret Ebersole, 76, of 1051 Pleasant View St., said the fire began after she left her home to visit her niece, Barb Sampsell, at Market and Ninth streets. The life-long resident of the two-story home at the corner of Pleasant View and 11th streets was baffled that she made the life-threatening mistake.
"(It) makes me feel awful that I did such a thing," Ebersole said from her neighbor's yard. "I wanted a new house, but not like this."
When firefighters arrived smoke was billowing out of the side and rear of the home. They knocked down the fire in about 20 minutes after gaining entry through the front and rear of the structure. Holes were also cut on a back porch roof to ventilate the home.
Fire discovered
Sampsell said she was almost home after picking up her child from school when she noticed smoke. After driving closer to the scene, she discovered the origin was her aunt's home.
"There was a man already looking in the window, and I said, 'She's not in there!'" Sampsell recalled.
She said approximately 25 minutes elapsed between when her aunt left the house to when she saw the smoke.
Trevorton firefighter Jim Reed was overcome by smoke and was provided needed oxygen soon after the fire began. His aunt, Donna Reed, comforted him on a near-by lawn until he regained his strength. His uncle, Trevorton Fire Chief Ed Reed, said no firefighters needed to be transported to a hospital.
The chief said that a hydrant at the corner of 11th and Mahanoy streets kept losing water pressure, but added that water tankers at the scene and additional hydrants provided enough water to extinguish the fire.
Firefighters remained on scene for approximately two hours.