CLAY TWP — Two McGregor Road residents escaped safely before their home burned to the ground Friday afternoon, in a blaze that took about 40 minutes to destroy the residence.

Don Koglin, 59, of 190 McGregor Road said that he and his wife, Teri, were home and watching television when he saw smoke coming from a bedroom and called 911.

“We were just sitting there, watching TV when all of a sudden smoke comes rolling up the hallway,” Koglin said, adding that he believed the cause of the blaze to be a space heater in one of the two-story home's three bedrooms.

West Sunbury Volunteer Fire Department Chief Matt Wilson said the official cause of the fire would remain undetermined until the department could contact a state police fire marshal, but confirmed that no one was hurt in the blaze.

The American Red Cross was notified of the family that was burned out of its home.

The fire, which kept firefighters on the scene for several hours Friday afternoon, shut down a quarter-mile stretch of McGregor Road near its intersection with Hall Road.

Wilson said the home would be declared a total loss, but no estimate of the damages was immediately available.

Volunteer fire companies from Oakland Township and Center Township assisted, as did emergency responders from Butler Ambulance Service.