No one was injured on Tuesday morning after a house fire in Economy borough, but there are still some pets that are missing.
Crews got the first call to a house on Freedom Road near First Street in Economy right before 4:40 a.m. Tuesday. Firefighters spent several hours working on it, but the fire captain said the place is a total loss.
“It was rocking whenever they pulled up on scene,” Captain Matthew Books of the Economy Borough Fire Department said.
Books said the fire went up the walls and took over the house. He added that two walls, one inward and one outward, collapsed.
He says no one who lived inside ended up injured because they were out of the area, but that nine cats remain unaccounted for.
“That’s the only negative we have right now,” Books said.
The captain said crews fought this from outside, from the ground and the air. There were a couple of small roadblocks at first.
“We did have a power line down as soon as we came in across the roadway,” Books said. “[We] did what we could until Duquesne Light got here.”
The house that caught fire also has a lot of greenery in front.
“The house placement, the overgrown vegetation all around the house, you know, makes it harder for my guys to get access to the house,” Books said.
In the end, firefighters controlled it. Multiple departments like Baden and New Sewickley gave assists.
The fire captain told KDKA-TV the department is still trying to figure out what happened here.
He said the state fire marshal has been notified.