Flames tear through a house on Dutchtown Road in Penn Township about 2:45 p.m. Sunday. The owners, a husband and wife, were home but they were not injured. Six volunteer fire departments and Penn Township police were called. The fire was not immediately believed to be suspicious. The house was insured.

PENN TWP — Flames quickly ravaged a house on the 200 block of Dutchtown Road in the township Sunday afternoon. No one was injured, and the fire was not immediately believed to be suspicious.

Homeowner David Braun was painting in the back of the wooden A-frame home when the blaze started about 2:45 p.m.

“He said he was on the deck on scaffolding painting when he smelled smoke,” said Penn Township police Sgt. Jack Ripper.

Braun walked down the scaffolding and saw smoke coming from the built-in garage in back of the house, where he lived for the past 45 years, said a family member, who did not identify himself.

Driving by in his truck, Justin Frazier, of New Castle, stopped when he noticed the flames.“I seen (Braun) waving his hands and I hurried up, jumped out of the truck and made sure everybody was out of the house,” Frazier said.He saw Braun's wife, Diana, was all right. He also noticed flames coming from the back of the house.“The whole building was fully involved when we got here,” said Bill Glace, chief for the Penn Township Volunteer Fire Department.The fire was too extensive to send any crews inside.“We hit it from the front,” Glace said. As more crews arrived, the fire fight became a “surround and drown” operation.Several departments were called to bring tankers, but firefighters later discovered there was a hydrant available down the road.Assisting the Penn Township VFD were firefighters from the Butler Township Volunteer Fire District, Middlesex Township, Saxonburg, Herman and Connoquenessing Township.

Fire crews perform mop-up work at a house on Dutchtown Road in Penn Township that was destroyed in a blaze that started about 2:45 p.m. Sunday. The owners, a husband and wife, were home but they were not injured. Six volunteer fire departments and Penn Township police were called. The fire was not immediately believed to be suspicious. The house was insured.