Feb 21, 2017 2 min read

A woman’s Whiteley Township home was destroyed by fire Tuesday afternoon after she allegedly refused help from neighbors.

Waynesburg fire Chief Jeff Marshall said the call came in just after 3 p.m. Tuesday that flames were visible inside the mobile home at 1559 Mt. Morris Road.

Marshall said the resident, Nicole Baker, was outside the home she rents when they arrived, and an employee from a plumbing company across the street was spraying water on the house.

Marshall said the cause of the blaze will be investigated by a state police fire marshal. He said Baker told him that she was cold and lit a fire in the fireplace, which led to the house catching fire.

A next-door neighbor, Joann Phillips, said she saw the smoke and went to the house to see if Baker was inside. Phillips said Baker refused to exit the building.

“She was inside, and the house was full of smoke,” Phillips said. “She just cussed at us and closed the door in our face. She made us leave the property.”

Phillips said that’s when she flagged down an employee of Don Shriver’s Video Drain Cleaning. The employee brought a van over with a portable generator and used a hose to spray water on the house before the fire department arrived.

Marshall said the woman told him she didn’t need any housing assistance.