BY ROB WHEARY
STAFF WRITER
rob_w@newsitem.com
TREVORTON—Fire gutted a twostory double-home Sunday evening on South 10th Street while the owners were away on vacation.
Emergency crews responded to a three-alarmblaze at 220 and 222 S. 10th St. at 5:41 p.m. Firefighters arrived to find flames at the rear of the home, charring the exterior.
Crews quickly extinguished the outside flames, but the blaze soon spread to the other part of the double-home, which is vacant. That gave firefighters fits, Trevorton Fire Chief Ed Reed said, but they were able to “trap” the flames in the roof area.
The result was a smoldering blaze that put out dark puffs of smoke that blocked out light at the scene and could be seen from more than a mile away.
Firefighters also had tocontend with chimneys on both ends of the house that began to separate from the exterior walls. On the vacant side, a falling chimney would have brought down a live power.
Flames soon shot through the roof of the structure, and firefighters from several area companies hit it from all sides, including from above with the help of the Squrt water apparatus from Shamokin’s Independence Fire Company.
The liquid assault helped get the blaze under control at approximately 7 p.m., but firefighters remained on scene well into Sunday night.
“The owners were not at home at the time, but we were able to get one dog out of the home safely,” Reed said.
A nearby home at 204 S. 10th St., unoccupied and owned by Earl Rebuck, Trevorton, suffered heat damage to the siding on the wall facing the doublehome.
Reed said initial information indicates the blaze started in the Thorpe home, but no cause was released Sunday. The chief will call in a state police fire marshal to investigate today.
Assisting Trevorton Fire Company were firefighters from Shamokin, Coal Township, Stonington, Kulpmont, East Cameron Township, Elysburg, Overlook, Herndon and Lower Augusta Township, along with Area Services, Trevorton Ambulance and Americus Ambulance.