2 injured, 2 dogs killed in Cranberry mobile home blaze, fire chief says
Dave Bindewald woke to the sound of pounding at his door in the early morning hours of Wednesday, Oct. 15.
Outside stood his neighbor, Linda Keneen, frantically telling him her home was on fire and asking him to call for help.
“She woke me up by beating on the door,” Bindewald said. “Her phone was still in the house, so she couldn’t call. She said, ‘Call 911.’ so I called it in.”
The mobile home fire at the Oak Springs Mobile Home Park in Cranberry Township left Keneen and her adult daughter who lived with her injured and their two dogs dead, fire chief Scott Garing confirmed.
Garing said they suffered smoke inhalation injuries and were transported to AHN Wexford Hospital in Allegheny County. Both have since been released.
Multiple crews were dispatched at 1:30 a.m. to the 100 block of York Road to find the home already engulfed in flames.
Officials say the fire was accidental, but they could not confirm the exact cause due to the home being ruled a total loss.
“Our best guess on it after consulting with the (Cranberry Township) police department and state police fire marshal is that it accidentally started on the couch,” Garing said. “There was so much damage to that area. Unless the occupants are interviewed and tell us what happened, we won’t know the true answer.”
A total of 13 fire stations worked to quell the blaze before it spread to surrounding homes.
Despite the quick response, Bindewald’s home, along with three other nearby homes. suffered varying levels of exterior damage.
Complicating efforts was the fact there was only one hydrant near the entrance of the park for crews to utilize.
“We knocked down the bulk of the fire just to stop it from causing the rest of the homes around it to catch fire,” Garing said. “Then we made sure the neighboring occupancies were cooled down. The challenging part was not just dealing with one building, but dealing with five buildings.”
Along with Cranberry Township Fire and EMS, other responding county departments included the Connoquenessing, Callery and Middlesex Township volunteer fire companies, Adams Area, Harmony and Butler Township volunteer fire districts; and Evans City Area, Penn Township and Prospect-Franklin Township volunteer fire departments.
There was also support from Allegheny County’s Marshall Township Volunteer Fire Department and Wexford Volunteer Fire Company, and Beaver County’s New Sewickley Fire District.
