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Pocono News Section
Apartment Building Fire Forces Out 11 People
Apartment Building Fire Forces Out 11 People - Wednesday, November 19, 2008 at 4:45PM EST
Reported by: Kyla Campbell
Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 @ 04:45pm EST
SCRANTON, LACKAWANNA COUNTY -- Flames spread through several apartments in a building in Scranton's Plot section. The fire broke out before 3 a. m. Wednesday at 918 Sanderson Avenue.
Clarence Widrig is one of 11 people who lived there, but it took a while to realize the building was on fire.
"My smoke alarm went off around midnight, and I looked everywhere and in the basement, and I didn't find anything," said Widrig. "Then about 2:30 this morning, the lights went off when I was watching TV."
Widrig's upstairs neighbor, Jose Mendoza, came downstairs after his own smoke alarm went off.
"He came down and we pulled the stove out and felt the wall behind the stove. You could see the fire down in the walls," said Widrig. "Jose left and got a fire extinguisher and came back in a couple minutes."
While they tried to put out the fire on their own, they didn't get far. The Scranton fire department showed up to find flames and smoke coming out of the first floor windows.
"The houses are close here, so we put in a second call immediately, which probably saved the entire block," said Chief Tom Davis. "It's a tough area to fight a fire."
He says the building's nooks and crannies made it difficult at first
"A fire will trap itself in there and will start to burn again," added Davis. "We had a lot of that, and we ripped everything apart."
The fire might have been trapped in the walls for a while, which is why fire alarms went off as early as midnight, then not again until after 2 a. m.
The owner of the building, Pete Donacuse, says he has fire insurance. But if his tenants don't have renter's insurance, they'll have to buy new clothes and furniture on their own.
Of the 11 people displaced by the fire, the Red Cross is providing shelter and clothing for five of them. The other people are staying with friends or family in the area.
Chief Davis says there is substantial water and smoke damage throughout the building, and he doesn't know how soon the tenants could return.
No word on the cause of that fire as of 12:30 p. m. Wednesday.
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