Beaver Co. Home Destroyed By Fire
SOUTH BEAVER TOWNSHIP (KDKA) – A house was destroyed by fire in Beaver County Monday morning.
According to officials at the scene, the fire started at a home in the 700-block of Route 168 in South Beaver Township around 11:30 a.m.
When firefighters arrived at the scene, the two-and-a-half-story, wood-framed house, worth well over a million dollars, was burning out of control.
"I was the first truck here, and obviously, there was heavy fire. We did what we could," said South Beaver Fire Department Assistant Chief Keith Girting. "There was nobody home, there was no animals, we did confirm that inside, so it was basically a defensive attack there as far as trying to keep a couple exposures down and stuff like that."
Since the structure was already engulfed in flames, firefighters were forced to go on the defense.
When it was over, all that was left standing was the chimney. Everything else was destroyed, including two vehicles parked in the garage.
There are no fire hydrants in the area, but crews said water was not a problem.
"What helped us with the swimming pool is because of the ground being soft up here from the trucks, we were able to get a four-wheel drive truck in there and draft water out of that big pool, and we've actually been filling the pool with tankers," said Chief Girting.
Before the fire, the house sat on a hillside and had a panoramic view of the area.
High winds and the heat didn't help South Beaver firefighters, but no one was hurt and they received lots of assistance.
"We had nine departments. We called out to Negley, Ohio, so we have two states. I'd say probably 75 guys," said Chief Girting. "Due to the heat and stuff, we had a rehab unit with air conditioning and stuff like that, so it all worked out great."
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