Fire destroys Canonsburg home
Photo courtesy of Canonsburg Fire Department
Firefighters battle a house fire at 159 Valley Road in Canonsburg on Tuesday night.
Photo courtesy of Canonsburg Fire Department
The residents of a house at 159 Valley Road in Canonsburg escaped injury in Tuesday’s fire that destroyed the structure.
A suspected electrical fire quickly spread throughout a Canonsburg home and destroyed the structure Tuesday night, although the residents were not injured.
Canonsburg fire Chief Tim Solobay said they were called to 159 Valley Road about 5:15 p.m. and found the building engulfed in flames.
“For as quick as we were there … already the whole front face of that building was completely involved in fire and obviously worked its way in the back of the house,” Solobay said.
The building at one time was a grocery store and bakery, but had been converted into a home, Solobay said. Because of its history as a store, three sides of the building were enclosed and the roof had multiple layers due to various renovations throughout the years, making the fire harder to fight, Solobay said. Because of that, Solobay said crews struggled to get to the fire and had to demolish the building to extinguish the blaze.
“It immediately was one of those fires that was exterior defense only,” Solobay said. “There was quite a bit of stuff inside.”
The homeowner told firefighters he was working outside with power cords that were running into the house, which may have sparked the fire.
“He had things plugged in, it got real hot and next thing he knew he had a fire going,” Solobay said.
The man and his wife were not injured in the blaze, although they did not have insurance for the home. A firefighter who suffered minor injuries in a fall went to the hospital for treatment. A pet cat and iguana died in the fire, Solobay said.
Crews were at the scene for about eight hours. Canonsburg firefighters were assisted by departments from Houston, North Strabane, Chartiers, Muse and Peters Township, while a crew from Cecil Township manned the Canonsburg station during the call.