Mar 25, 2019 1 min read

Officials ruled the fire earlier this month at a house in Centerville whose owner was saved by his dog to be accidental.

State police said a state police fire marshal unit out of the agency’s Washington barracks had identified an electrical malfunction as the cause of the fire that took place overnight on March 14 at 91 Vesta St. in the borough’s Denbo neighborhood.

Homeowner William Knerr’s dog jumped into his bed a little after midnight, waking him up so the pair could retreat through a rear window onto a porch roof, then jump to safety. Firefighters were dispatched a little before 1 a.m.

Derrick White, chief of Denbo Vesta Six Volunteer Fire Co., said later that day the fire appeared to have started in the front living room. The house was fully engulfed in flames when his crew arrived. The department had to call their counterparts from the area for additional tanker trucks.