PENN TWP — An elderly woman in a wheelchair and her nurse caretaker escaped a fire Saturday night that minutes later engulfed a more than 130-year-old farmhouse, authorities said.

Dozens of firefighters from seven departments battled for hours the massive blaze at 345 Brownsdale Road that apparently started shortly before 9 p.m. in the basement.

No one was hurt, but the two-story home, a landmark in the neighborhood, was gutted.

“It's terrible,” said Jennifer Fennell, who lives with her family just two houses down the road. “It was a beautiful home. I always loved that house.”

The brick and cement block house painted white has been home to 88-year-old Ann Weir for more than five decades.

She and her late husband, Edgar, bought it in the 1950s.

Weir, who needs a walker and sometimes a wheelchair to get around because of health problems, has been forced to live downstairs in recent years, say friends and neighbors.

That might have saved her from injury or worse Saturday night, authorities said.

Caretaker Rhonda Tyson also was at the house and is credited with helping to rescue Weir. Once she noticed smoke, authorities said, she got Weir into a wheelchair and wheeled her onto a back porch, away from the fire.

“Firefighters from there picked her up by the wheelchair and took her out,” said Rodney Myers, who has cared for Weir's property for more than 20 years.

Weir, who has cancer and heart ailments, was taken to Butler Memorial Hospital to be checked out. She later was released.

“Mrs. Weir is doing good,” Myers said Sunday. He said that for now she is staying at Tyson's home in Mount Chestnut.

Neighbors were relieved to hear that Weir was OK after the fire.

“She's a wonderful lady,” said Wayne Hixon, who lives on his farm down the road 50 yards or so. “And though she may not be in the best of health, she's still active in the Daughters of the American Revolution.”

Weir has earned accolades at the national and state levels during her 65-year career at the DAR.

Fire officials continue to investigate what caused the blaze, which is believed to be accidental.

It started in the basement, where there is an oil furnace. Flames quickly took over the house and sent alarms out to numerous departments.

“I didn't realize there was a fire until my next-door neighbor heard it on the scanner and called me,” Fennell said.

She and her family immediately went down their driveway to check out the fire.

“The flames were coming out the left side of the house,” she said. “It looked bad.”

Hixon, his wife and their daughter were inside their house when they spotted the fire.

“I looked out my window at first and saw flames,” Hixon said. “I thought the barn was on fire.”

A red barn, which is unscathed, is next to Weir's house. Hixon, who has a dairy farm at his property, uses the barn to store a combine, harvester and other equipment.

“I would have rather had the barn burn down than the house,” he said.

Hixon has lived in his house his whole life — more than 70 years. He said the Weirs bought their farmhouse more than 50 years ago.

While not certain, he's pretty sure the house was built in the 1870s, possibly earlier.

Myers said additions were built to the front and back of the house in the late 1950s. An in-ground swimming pool also was added in back.

Hixon said he and his family have fond memories of that house. He said the Weirs allowed his four children to use the pool when they were growing up.

He noted that they also allowed him to use the barn for equipment storage. But in lieu of rent, he initially paid them in chickens and eggs from his farm.

Several motorists on Sunday stopped their vehicles on the road to snap photographs of the damaged house.

Meanwhile, Myers spent part of Sunday morning going through the remains searching for anything worth salvaging.

“I got some pictures that were on the dresser in the front bedroom,” he said.

Nothing on the second floor could be saved.

“The upstairs is in the basement,” Myers said.

Testament to the intensity of the fire was that by noon Sunday, smoke still was belching from a portion of the roof on one side and several windows on the other side.

The Penn Township Volunteer Fire Department was called back shortly before 6 a.m. today to the house after the fire reportedly rekindled.

Assisting the Penn Township department at Saturday's fire were firefighters from Middlesex Township, Meridian, Callery and Evans City, and West Deer 3 and Richland Township in Allegheny County.

Penn Township fire officials, who could not be reached for comment, continue to investigate for a cause.