Vacant house destroyed by fire in Clay Township
CLAY TWP — A fire of unknown origin destroyed a vacant brick house Thursday afternoon at 690 Mahood Road.
Firefighters had the fire under control by 3 p.m., an hour after neighbor Ken Brown called 911 when he saw flames coming from the house.
No one was reported injured.
The property is owned by Russell Bellis, but the house has been vacant for several years, Brown said.
Doug Bellis, Russell's son, was at the scene but declined to comment.
The house was a complete loss estimated at $250,000, said Lt. John Bunyan of the West Sunbury Fire Department.
There was a refrigerator and some other items in the garage that were destroyed, but Bunyan said he did not know the value of the house's contents.
Since the area does not have fire hydrants, numerous tanker trucks were dispatched. Some of the tankers filled up using water from a pond on Byers Road.
Trooper DuWayne Baird, state police deputy fire marshal, is investigating the cause of the fire.
Brown, who stayed at the scene after calling it in, commended the firefighters for responding to the call so quickly.
“I called 911 at 2:09 and they were here at 22 after, I'm pretty proud of these guys,” he said.
Volunteer fire companies that assisted were Unionville, North Washington, Lick Hill, Prospect and Butler Township Fire District 3.
