EAST BRADY, Clarion County — A Monday morning fire that destroyed one building and damaged another on Kellys Way in East Brady put firefighters to a daylong test of endurance, but also brought residents out to care for the emergency responders themselves.

The home’s owner, George Burdette, said he had been living at 315 Kelly Way for about six months before Monday’s fire, which he believes started as an electrical short in the home’s kitchen.

A state police fire marshal is investigating, but the fire is not believed to be suspicious.

Burdette said the fire had plenty of time to take hold before it was noticed. After cooking breakfast, Burdette was sitting on the home’s front porch and surfing the Internet on his phone when he saw smoke billowing from a window.

“My God, you oughta’ seen the black smoke rolling out of the kitchen window,” Burdette said Tuesday.

Burdette said he moved his dog, which was tied up outside, to safety and then tried to re-enter the home while calling 911, but was forced back by the dense smoke.

The smoke forced neighbors Art and Josephine Vasbinder, who live up the hill at 315 E. 1st St., inside their home and caught the attention of people in the Old Bank Deli & Coffee Shop, which is a short walk down the street.

Raquel Hornberger, a manager at the business, said she was out getting ice when she noticed the smoke. By the time Hornberger got back to the coffee shop she could see flames from the home’s windows and roof, and the town’s fire whistle began to blare.

“It was fast,” she said.

The shop itself became a kind of staging and relief area on Monday, residents said, where people donated water and food for emergency responders and firefighters, who were working in stifling heat and humidity, retreated for brief respites during a call-out that lasted from morning until late afternoon.

“There’s worry about everyone’s (safety) ... then there’s that relief that everyone’s OK. But then there’s this helpless feeling,” said Marilyn Wilson, who watched the scene unfold from the shop.

The smoke and noise brought Marc Hillwig, of Robinson Street, into town from his morning walk in the park. Hillwig said he watched as the home’s roof collapsed and firefighters fought the blaze from above with a ladder truck.

“It had been there forever,” Hillwig said of the home. “(But) pretty much for the last few years I don’t recall it being much of a place to live.”

John Klein, the department’s president and a fire police officer, said the tactic of pumping water onto the fire from above saved a building next door from destruction.

“It could have been a disaster,” Klein said. “It could have burnt down if it had caught fire.”

The building, which is only feet from Burdette’s home, suffered fire and water damage. Tenants were evacuated until repairs could be made and no one was at the building on Tuesday.

Burdette’s home was extinguished by noon on Monday, but flare-ups and unsafe conditions at the property kept firefighters on scene until late afternoon. Deemed a total loss by fire officials the home had its remnants intentionally demolished by Hedrick Brother’s Excavating, Burdette said.

On Tuesday it was a pile of rubble visible from the coffee shop, where Klein and a group of friends sat talking about East Brady’s recent struggles.

“When something happens in Brady, the whole town pulls together, no matter what,” said resident Janice Boyle.

Since late December, when an electrical fire gutted a half-story home at 805 First Avenue, Klein said the town has seen three residential buildings burn down.

“This town’s been through a lot,” Klein said.

He called Monday’s blaze one of the worst he’s seen, and said the community’s concern for the firefighters doesn’t go unnoticed.

“I think it means a lot to us that we’ve got the support of the town,” Klein said. “That makes these people every bit as much a part of the team as the firefighters.”

Burdette said Red Cross officials have offered to put him up in a motel and friends have offered to put him up in their homes, but he plans to camp in the yard next to the pile of rubble that used to be his house.

He isn’t sure about the future of the property, but doesn’t want to leave town and hopes to continue to live on Kellys Way. Asked why he refused offers of lodging, Burdette said he’s too fond of the town to leave it, even temporarily.

“Well, I like East Brady. They’re wonderful,” Burdette said. “This is small town America.”