Fire destroys home in Slippery Rock Twp.
SLIPPERY ROCK TWP — A fast-moving fire destroyed a cabin-style home and a large garage on Stoughton Beach Road early Friday morning.
Three men and a woman were asleep when the fire broke out about 4:45 a.m. in the attached garage and spread to the house, but they all managed to get out safely, authorities said.
The state police fire marshal has been called to investigate the cause of the blaze, which was not immediately known.
Damage was estimated at $200,000. The owner, whose name was not available, did not have insurance, fire officials said.
A neighbor spotted fire coming from the side of the garage and notified 911.
“It quickly spread through the garage to the side of the house,” said Ryan Hanchosky, assistant chief for the Slippery Rock Volunteer Fire Company.
The home's owner, two friends and his uncle awoke to smoke and flames. They threw on whatever clothes they could find and escaped into the freezing cold.
By the time Hanchosky and the first crew got there, the fire was all but out of control.
“The garage was fully involved,” he said, ”and a quarter of the house was fully involved.”
Firefighters made an exterior attack before they managed to get a crew inside the house.
“But due to the conditions,” Hanchosky said, “we had to get out. We were unable to make progress.”
The amount of contents in the house, he noted, served to stoke the fire.
Officials eventually had to call the Slippery Rock Township road department for a backhoe, which was used to tear down the side of the house connected to the garage to create a fire break.
Harrisville and Unionville firefighters assisted the Slippery Rock VFC. Four other departments — Prospect, West Sunbury, Pine Township in Mercer County and Scott Township in Lawrence County — supplied tankers since there were no hydrants.
Crews were able to save one vehicle parked outside the garage. But another vehicle was damaged.
“The side of that one got burned,” Hanchosky said.
Firefighters also managed to rescue one cat that was in the house. The fate of a second cat was not immediately known.
