Late night Wednesday house fire results in ‘total loss’ in Harris Township
Several Centre County fire departments responded to a fire that destroyed a home in the 700 block of Mountain Road in Harris Township late Wednesday night.
The departments were dispatched to the scene at 11:46 p.m. Wednesday. When the Boalsburg Fire Company arrived at the scene, it was already a “well involved dwelling fire,” the company posted on Facebook.
Three people were inside of the house at the time of the fire, which started on the porch area, Greg Alters, assistant chief of the Boalsburg Fire Company, told the Centre Daily Times. One of the occupants woke up and could feel the heat from the fire, looked out the window and saw the fire.
“He jumped up and got the other two occupants awake and got them out of the house,” Alters said. No injuries were reported.
The house, which was a rental, was completely destroyed in the fire.
“It’s going to be a total loss. It was an all stone first story. So the whole outside structure is still in place, but everything inside is burnt out,” Alters said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Centre Region Fire Marshal, Alters said. The American Red Cross of Greater Pennsylvania tweeted that they provided resources and assistance to three adults after the fire.
A good Samaritan also provided the firefighters with drinking water, which Alters said was very appreciated.
“It was pretty cool, because he just kind of showed up over at our fill site. And the guy said he heard it on the scanner app he was listening to and thought he’d bring some water down. So that was actually pretty neat,” Alters said. “It’s funny that somebody was actually listening in and thought, ‘hey, you know, I’m gonna do something that I can take care of. I can help these guys out.’”
In addition to Boalsburg, the Alpha, Centre Hall, Pleasant Gap and Milesburg fire companies, State College police responded to the fire. They were on scene for about three hours, Alters said.
This story was originally published May 13, 2022 at 3:42 PM.
