Fire damages home on Beech Street
A fire that broke out March 23 left a home’s basement severely damaged.
The Pottstown Fire Department received a call for a working fire on the 100 block of Beech Street at 1:15 p.m. Upon arrival, firefighters encountered a basement fire that they say was hard to access and tricky to put out.
“We had a basement fire which was actually difficult to get to because it was pretty far in the house. You had to go back through the house to get to the steps and come back toward the front of the house,” said Goodwill Fire Chief Kevin Yerger.
After accessing the fire, first responders began ventilating the building by breaking and opening windows and suppressing the flames. Although they were able to get the blaze under control in about 20 minutes, Yerger said the task was difficult because they weren’t immediately able to use water to douse the flames.
“PECO was here because the fire involved electrical lines in the basement between the service where it enters the building and the electrical panel itself. That also made putting the fire out more dangerous because they couldn’t hit it with water immediately. We had to subdue the fire then wait for PECO to arrive to pull the meters from the house to totally secure the power and then we were able to completely extinguish the fire,” said Yerger.
Yerger said there are four residents of the home total and that the adjoining house, which was ventilated during the efforts, was vacant.
One resident had been inside the home when the fire broke out and he managed to escape safely out the back door.
“I was in the shower and saw smoke coming in all over,” said Dylan Williams, 20, who had been home at the time. “I got out of the shower and ran downstairs and out the back.”
Authorities said no other injuries were reported and that the American Red Cross was assisting residents with temporary housing until they are able to move back in.
Fire officials said the basement of the home suffered significant fire damage and the first, second and third floors have smoke damage.
At around 2:15 p.m. Pottstown Detectives were at the scene and Yerger said he was unsure about the extent of their involvement.
“As far as the detectives, they work closely with the fire marshal all the time so their involvement at this point, I’m not really sure of,” said Yerger. “I don’t know if there’s anything that’s going to be investigated from the detective end of it.”
No cause has been officially determined and authorities said the Pottstown Fire Marshal is investigating the incident.
Responding to the scene were Pottstown Fire Department, West Pottsgrove Fire Department, Limerick Fire Department and Goodwill EMS.