Sisters escape house fire in North Franklin
A firefighter works to extinguish flames at a house at 6 Grove St., North Franklin Township, Saturday morning.
Two sisters escaped safely when their home at 6 Grove St., North Franklin Township, caught fire Saturday morning.
Courtesy of Staci Boucher Firefighters work to extinguish a fire at 6 Grove Ave., North Franklin Township, Saturday morning.
Two sisters escaped their burning home at 6 Grove St., North Franklin Township, Saturday morning.
Kiara Long said she was sleeping in an upstairs bedroom when she was awakened about 9 a.m. by the sound of a smoke detector going off. She shouted for her sister, Olivia Long, who was also asleep in another upstairs bedroom. She heard her screams and escaped the burning home.
“I put a sheet over my head and ran down the stairs,” Olivia said.
Kiara, seeing her sister was out of the house and standing in the yard, climbed out her bedroom window to the porch roof and jumped to safety.
“The smoke filled up so quickly,” she said, standing shaken outside the home as firefighters from five companies worked to put out the fire. “I wasn’t leaving until I found her. All of a sudden I saw her by the porch. By then, I had to jump because there was so much smoke.”
Kiara said she believes the fire began in a wall heater in the first-floor bathroom.
North Franklin fire Chief Dave Bane said the state police fire marshal was called to confirm the cause.
He said when firefighters arrived heavy smoke was coming out of the second-floor windows and roof. The fire traveled through the walls to the second floor, and firefighters had to open up the back of the home to get to the fire.
“I didn’t see flames initially, but as they were taking half of (the rear siding) off, I saw a whole bunch of flames shooting out,” said Staci Boucher, who lives on Blaine Street.
It took firefighters about an hour to bring the fire under control.
Bane said the home was gutted and the floor of the second level is burned through in places.
The home is owned by Robert Moten and rented by the sisters, who had lived there for four years. The Longs’ grandmother, the Rev. Joyce Moten, said that Kiara had gutted and remodeled the interior of the frame home in the past few years, but had not taken the wall heaters out because they appeared to be in working condition.
In addition to North Franklin, firefighters from Washington, South Franklin and South Strabane townships responded.