Somerset County fire departments battle 2 structure fires in one night

A family lost their home in an early morning fire Sunday.

Jerome Fire Chief Russell Miller said the fire in the 200 block of Edgar Croyle Road, Boswell (Conemaugh Township), was fully involved when the firefighters arrived at the 4:32 a.m. call. A family of four was residing in the house, and they got out, he said.

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"They were awakened when the smoke detectors alerted them," Miller said.

He said the house is a total loss. The fire started in the laundry room, Miller said.

"The house is in a rural area, so there were no fire hydrants. So we brought in water by tankers," he said.

Miller said fire departments from Conemaugh Township, Jerome, Scalp Level, Windber, Boswell, Jennerstown, Stoystown, Acosta, and Riverside, Upper Yoder and West Hills from Cambria County, along with Conemaugh Township EMS and Conemaugh Township police were on the scene. The departments were back in service around 9:30 a.m.

"Nobody was injured. Red Cross was called in, but the family is able to stay with family," Miller said. "There were more than 50 firefighters. We needed a lot of tankers to get the water out. It was a good turnout."

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Another fire

This was the second structure fire call the departments were on overnight. Fire crews were dispatched at 11:35 p.m. Saturday to a vacant building at the intersection of Shady Hollow Lane and Wigstrom Road, Boswell (Jenner Township).

Jennerstown Deputy Chief Mike Novak said the fire was fully involved when fire crews arrived. He said it was an abandoned house that he thought at one time was a farmhouse.

"It had a lot of stuff in it which posed a lot of problems for us," Novak said. He said the cause of the fire is undetermined.

Fire departments from Jennerstown, Acosta, Boswell, Sipesville, and tankers from Stoystown and Jerome, were on the scene for four hours, Novak said. Somerset and Ligonier fire departments were canceled. Nobody was injured in the fire.

"I want to thank the neighboring companies for the help," Novak said.

Madolin Edwards has been a journalist at the Daily American for 37 years. Contact the Daily American reporters at news@dailyamerican.com.

This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Somerset County fire departments battle 2 structure fires in one night