Authorities said the blaze moved quickly through a wood-frame house

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A four-alarm fire Thursday destroyed one home in Avalon and damaged two adjacent houses.

The fire was reported about 11 a.m. in the 400 block of North School Street, according to Allegheny County emergency officials.

There was no report of injuries.

Several people lived in the destroyed house, one of whom, a woman, was there when the fire began, said Avalon Police Chief Tom Kokoski. She told the chief she had been sleeping on the couch when she awoke to “heat and flames pounding on the window.”

Avalon Fire Chief Charles Berie said all of the other residents had been accounted for.

The cause is under investigation. Authorities and a witness said the blaze moved quickly through the woodframe home and spread to the houses on each side.

Matthew O’Malley, 36, of Harmarville, was building at a home across the street when he heard “a sizzle and then an explosion.”

Mr O’Malley dialed 911. “It sounded like some firecrackers going off, like if you set off an M-80,” he said. “About 30 seconds into my call, I saw flames everywhere. It literally happened in two to three minutes. The second house was on fire five minutes later. It was like a tinderbox.”

“The front of the house was fully engulfed when I pulled up,” Chief Kokoski said

The three houses sit on a hill. The house where the fire started is in the middle. Mr. O’Malley said he ran to the house down the hill and was told by a neighbor that it was unoccupied. He said Chief Kokoski went to the house up the hill and alerted residents about the fire.

Chief Berie said firefighters knocked off siding from the middle house to try to contain the fire and limit damage to the other homes. They also removed part of the roof. Firefighters were hampered by the tight street and power lines overhead, Chief Berie said.