Crews battle house fire on Center Avenue in Butler
A house on the 900 block of Center Avenue in the City of Butler was destroyed in a fire Sunday morning, May 10.
According to City of Butler Bureau of Fire Chief Chris Switala, a call came in just before 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The bureau, Butler Township Volunteer Fire District, VA Butler Fire and Emergency Services and Butler Ambulance Service were called to the scene.
Switala said the house was unoccupied and nobody was injured in the fire, but the building is considered a total loss.
“Heavy fire was visible on multiple floors,” he said about the scene when crews arrived.
He said crews battled the fire for about an hour and 15 minutes, and had to fight from the exterior defensively for a time after holes were burned through the floor. A large part of the battle involved chasing hotspots in areas like the attic.
City police shut down traffic each way on Center Avenue and near intersections onto the street while crews battled the flames. The street reopened to traffic around 12:30 p.m., Switala said.
Switala also commended Herman Volunteer Fire Company for covering Butler’s service area while the city’s crews were preoccupied.
