One firefighter was injured and a dog perished in a mobile home fire Monday afternoon along Pine Hollow Road in Washington Township, Indiana County.
A state police fire marshal said a space heater in the home was ruled to be the cause of the fire discovered just before 1 p.m., which displaced a couple living there.
A vehicle parked there prompted concern that there might be someone at home, but Creekside Volunteer Fire Company Chief Cody Hitchings said no humans were home at the time of the fire.
“They had gone to work,” Hitchings said. However, an all-terrain vehicle was affected by the flames that swept through the mobile home as well as a 40-by-20-foot addition.
It was not an easy fight. Multiple companies were called by Indiana County Emergency Management Agency to assist Creekside volunteers.
“The driveway is about three-quarters of a mile off the main township road,” Hitchings said. “It was a sheet of ice. The township was very quick to get the road ashed so we could get the rest of the apparatus up there.”
It was a remote location, that required assistance from Elderton’s complete department, tankers from Rural Valley and Dayton, and crews from Indiana Fire Association, Plumville District and Marion Center companies.
A rapid intervention team and Citizens’ Ambulance also was called, while Coal Run/McIntyre volunteers were on standby at the Creekside fire hall.
Hitchings said crews were on the scene for three hours.
