Generator may be cause of house fire
SOUTH BUFFALO TWP, Armstrong County — Fire officials believe a faulty generator sparked a blaze Tuesday morning that destroyed an elderly couple's home along the Allegheny River.
Mary Ann Timney was home, but she was able to get out safely when the fire started around 9:20 a.m. Her husband, Thomas Timney, was away. No one was injured.
About 30 firefighters from six departments — including two from Butler County — battled the blaze, but there was apparently nothing they could do to save the raised ranch house on White Rock Road in South Buffalo Township.
“It's an all-wood structure and once it caught fire, it took off,” said Freeport Fire Chief Thomas Sweeny Jr.
Gusty winds fanned the flames.
The suspected cause, a small gas generator, was outside in a back corner of the house.
The neighborhood, which was teeming with generators, lost electrical service Sunday night due to windstorms that carried gusts of 60 mph.
Neighbors said Mary Ann Timney told them she heard an explosion before she noticed the fire.
“She heard a pop coming from the generator and the next thing (she) knew, (the fire) was ripping,” Sweeny said.
Some neighbors thought they heard possible problems coming earlier from the generator.
“It sounded strange,” said Gerald DeAngelis, who lives next door. “I thought it was running out of gas.”
Others described the noise as “sputtering.”
Mary Ann Timney got out and went to a neighbor's house for help.
The Timneys, who are in their mid-70s, were too upset to talk about what happened. George Timney bought the home in 1990, according to a neighbor.
Four tankers helped provide adequate water for the fire fight, Sweeny said, noting that tapping into the river was not an immediate option due to the extent of the fire.
“We had no time,” he said, “to get a portable pump down on the river.”
DeAngelis, a general practice attorney, was at his law office in Freeport when he got a call from a neighbor, advising him of the fire. He hurried home.
“The place was engulfed in flames,” DeAngelis said of the Timneys' home, “and smoke was everywhere.”
Crews had the fire under control within 20 to 25 minutes of arrival. A damage estimate was not immediately available.
A friend of the Timneys who lives nearby said the couple had insurance. They also have several options, the neighbor said, for temporary housing.
Assisting the Freeport Volunteer Fire Department were firefighters from South Buffalo Township and Worthington in Armstrong County, Saxonburg and Buffalo Township in Butler County and Harrison Hills in Allegheny County.
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