Jonah Kalafut, 12, is credited with helping firefighters put out a blaze Monday afternoon that damaged his next-door neighbors' home on Clark Avenue in Butler Township. Jonah heard the smoke alarm go off and reported smoke coming from the garage, then got a garden hose and used it to slow down the flames until firefighters arrived.

BUTLER TWP — The hero of the fire on Clark Avenue was in a hurry to get to soccer Monday afternoon.

His mother says helping to slow down a house fire is an excuse the soccer coach will have to take without argument.

Jonah Kalafut, 12, home Monday because of the Columbus Day holiday, was waiting to go to soccer at about 1:30 p.m. when he heard his neighbor's smoke detector go off.

"I ran and saw smoke coming from their garage and I told my mother. She called the fire department," Jonah said.

While his mother, Anna Kalafut called 911, Jonah ran for the garden hose and trained it on the house at 211 Clark Ave., owned by Charles and Judy Deahl, just south of the Butler County Community College.

His older brother, Josh, helped with the hose until firefighters arrived a few minutes later.South Butler Volunteer Department Fire Chief Brian Mazzanti said he and his crew were eating lunch at Mama Rosa's on Old Plank Road when the call came in, making them just that much closer to the fire.While Mazzanti drove to the scene, firefighters went back to the station for trucks and equipment.Both their quick turnaround and Jonah's quick thinking with the garden hose helped to keep the fire isolated in an attic space above the Deahl's two-car garage."(Jonah) did slow the fire down, kept it from really getting going," Mazzanti said.Besides South Butler, more than 30 firefighters responded from Lyndora, Penn Township and Meridian.It took about an hour to knock down the fire and put out hot spots hidden where the garage and the house roofs meet.The Deahls were not home at the time. Their daughter, Evie Barnes, a professor at BC3, raced to the house shortly after firefighters."I'm just glad they (her parents) weren't home," she said.Mazzanti said state fire Marshal Jeff Crede plans to inspect the house this morning in an attempt to determine the cause of the fire and the amount of damages.While the fire was contained to the western end of the home, the living room did have some water/foam damage and the entire house had filled with smoke, which was cleared with fans. No one was injured.

Firefighter Dean Selfridge puts water on a hot spot in the garage of a home at 211 Clark Ave. in Butler Township that was damaged by fire on Monday. No one was home at the time. The state police fire marshal is investigating the cause.