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Fire damages township house

Firefighters respond to a house fire on Irene Drive in Butler Township Sunday afternoon. The homeowner managed to escape unharmed. An estimate on the amount of damage was not available Sunday.

BUTLER TWP — A township man fled to safety moments after his house caught on fire Sunday afternoon.

Howard Killmeyer said he was at home watching television around 4 p.m. when he was alerted to a fire.

“I was in there watching golf and the smoke alarm went off. I looked into the kitchen and saw smoke,” Killmeyer said while watching helplessly as firefighters continued to douse his single-story house on Irene Drive.

No one was injured in the fire.

Killmeyer said he suspected the fire started in a section of garage closest to his house.

He said he opened the door to the garage and saw it was filled with smoke. He proceeded to hurry through another door to a farther part of the garage, which was not yet filled with smoke. The electricity was out so he pulled the chain to open the garage door manually and drove out in his Chrysler Pacifica, which he parked in a neighbor's driveway.Several neighbors said they saw the smoke coming from the house and called 911. One of those callers was Phil Bushre, who lives adjacent to Killmeyer on Foster Drive.Bushre said he saw the smoke out of his back window and told his wife and children to get out of the house. He said the fire started very quickly.“It was unbelievable. By the time we got outside the whole garage was engulfed,” he said.Killmeyer said he built the house and had lived there for 57 years. He lived alone and did not have any pets, though nearly all his possessions were left inside.

Representatives of Center for Community Resources and American Red Cross offered Killmeyer assistance at the scene. He said he had relatives he could stay with. The house was insured.Dave Bestwick, fire chief with Butler Township Fire District Station 3, said the cause of the fire and extent of the damage from the fire were unknown Sunday afternoon as firefighters continued to put out hot spots.The neighboring houses, including Bushre's, appeared to have some exterior damage from smoke and heat though other structures were not evacuated or considered at risk of burning, Bestwick said.Station 3 was assisted at the scene by the Mercer Road, South Butler and VA fire departments, Butler Ambulance Service and the Butler Township police department.A West Penn Power truck was dispatched for a downed electric line.

Firefighters respond to a house fire on Irene Drive in Butler Township Sunday afternoon. The cause of the fire and extent of the damage from the fire were unknown Sunday.

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