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Mt. Oliver Fire Victims Deal With Pain Of Losing Their Homes

MT. OLIVER (KDKA) -- For Tim Melzer, coming back to a pile of charred rubble that used to be his house was something he knew he had to do.

"I'm not a man to cry, I'm ready to cry," he said. "I can't believe this."

The former Ormsby Avenue resident joins 40 others displaced after a fire damaged 13 homes in Mt. Oliver.

It was one of the first things addressed inside the Mt. Oliver Borough Council Meeting Monday night.

"It was one of those once in a lifetime events," said Mt. Oliver Assistant Fire Chief Ron Lowrey. "I've got 30 years on the job and this was probably the worst fire in 30 years."

In all, five homes were destroyed and eight others were seriously damaged.

Joe Bryden's home caught fire from the embers. Monday he was able to go back inside to asses the damage.

"The top floor front of the house is burned up the front porch is burned up there's water damage all throughout the entire house," Bryden said. "All levels of the house damaged."

Still -- he considers himself one of the lucky ones.

Melzer, whose family is putting him up at a hotel right now, says he went to work Monday morning. He's trying to keep some sort of normalcy in a situation that is too raw to seem real.

"Disbelief," Melzer said. "It's like I wanna wake up from a dream."

The gas company was on scene Monday night cutting off the lines so the fire marshal can further investigate the cause.

RELATED LINKS
13 Homes Affected In 4-Alarm Mount Oliver Fire
Officials Working To Determine Cause Of Mount Oliver Blaze

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