Woman, children left homeless after fire
SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — A fire destroyed a house off Route 173 Thursday morning, leaving a woman and her two children homeless.
The family was not in the wood frame house at 137 Etna Road when the fire broke out.
Christine Lipke and her two children, Lilly Byerly, 8, and Adam Byerly, 5, lived in the house.
Lipke, who rents the house from owner Chad Snow, left for work in Butler at 4:30 a.m. The children left to go to school and a baby sitter at 8:30 a.m.
Lipke's mother, Jennifer Brown of Kittanning, who was visiting for a couple of days, left soon after that to visit a neighbor.
Shortly after 9 a.m., a different neighbor saw the house was on fire and called 911.
“It was fully involved when we arrived,” said Chief Dave Taggart of the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company.
Crews initially were concerned that Brown was in the house, but they soon discovered she was not.
Firefighters knocked down the fire quickly, but all that was left was a pile of rubble. Taggart said the cause of the fire is unknown. The state police fire marshal will investigate the cause.
Lipke does not have renter's insurance. The American Red Cross is assisting the family.
In addition to Slippery Rock, firefighters from Harrisville, Unionville and Scott Township, Lawrence County, assisted. Firefighters left the scene at 11:50 a.m.
