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Westmoreland Co. Home Destroyed By Fire

LOWER BURRELL (KDKA) – A Westmoreland County house full of memories and antiques was destroyed by fire Wednesday morning.

According to officials the fire tore through the side of a Lower Burrell home around 8:30 a.m. in the 4200-block of Arnold Avenue.

The owner of the home could only stand by and watch as her possessions were destroyed.

"I bought my first antique when I was 8-years-old at an auction," Kathy Stayer said.

Stayer filled the house with a lifetime's worth of collectables, using the home only to store the antiques.

Some of the items were family heirlooms.

"My grandfather's desk that his grandfather made him for a wedding gift. The only sad thing is I didn't have insurance on it. So any loss is a complete loss," Stayer said.

Stayer had actually been in the process of moving her collectables out of the house. She was planning on selling the home in the coming weeks.

Lower Burrell Fire Lieutenant Ethan Sabulsky said unfortunately, most of what's inside can't be saved.

"There's some things that may be salvageable. But, a lot of stuff did get destroyed," Lt. Sabulsky said.

Fire crews were able to quickly contain and put out the fire. However, one of their own was injured in the process.

"We did send one firefighter to the hospital. He was having difficulty breathing, but everything's checking out okay with him," Lt. Sabulsky said.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

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