5 People Displaced By Beaver Co. Fire
MIDLAND (KDKA) – Five people have been displaced due to a fire in Beaver County Wednesday afternoon.
The fire spread across the roof of a triplex.
The smoke was so intense that an apartment building next door had to be evacuated, forcing out 200 people.
Those people have since gone back home, but the people who lived where the fire originated don't have anything to go back to.
Pictures show how thick the smoke was, the triplex is barely visible.
Ryan Jones and his wife Brittany lived in one of the units, along with their 3-month-old son.
"I was upstairs on my computer and I heard a loud bang -- I thought it was the cat knocking something over, like he always is," said Jones. "Then I ran downstairs and I seen where the stove was engulfed with flames."
He got everyone out and then tried to stop the flames, grabbing a fire extinguisher.
The firefighters were concerned at one point that the roof might collapse. Fortunately, no people were injured, but some pets didn't make it out.
Authorities say in all, five people are now homeless.
The fire chief believes the cause of the flames is probably something electrical.
"It's a shame it's Christmas Eve," said Fire Chief Howard Sweet. "It's terrible, it's absolutely terrible. It's the worst thing that could happen to anybody."
Lost in the fire was Christmas presents they had just bought their son.
"Yesterday actually, we went to Walmart, we were getting all his Christmas presents" said Jones. "They're all gone. I'm just glad I got my son out of that house. That's the main thing I was most worried about."
The state police fire marshal will be out over the weekend to determine the exact cause of the fire.
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