Sept. 11-- A state police fire marshal is investigating a three-alarm blaze in Johnstown's Roxbury neighborhood that kept fire crews busy for more than eight hours early Sunday.
City firefighters arrived at the scene shortly after midnight to find the attic of a Franklin Street home in flames.
Despite efforts to douse it from the inside, the quickly spreading fire forced firefighters to back out and shift to a defensive attack aimed at protecting a nearby home, said Randy Novosel, acting assistant chief.
"Within minutes of getting there, flames broke through the roof and started to compromise it," he said. "We had to pull our guys out."
Three platoons of Johnstown firefighters were dispatched to the scene.
Initially, both Johnstown police and firefighters had to search through the home to look for occupants, unaware the residence was vacant, and that the owner was traveling out of state, Novosel said.
The 1300 block residence had at one point served as a duplex, but was converted back into a single-family home and had been under an ongoing renovation, Novosel said.
A portable "step gun" hose was used to spray down an adjacent home, which was protected from flames, Novosel said.
Ladder trucks attacked the roof fire and, after several hours, a crew was able to re-enter the home and extinguish hot spots.
No injuries were sustained, he said.
Novosel said the home may not be a total loss, but its roof and third floor suffered "extensive damage."
The origin and cause of the fire remained under investigation Sunday evening, he said.
"We're awaiting the fire marshal's ruling," Novosel said.
David Hurst is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat. He can be reached at (814) 532-5053.
Follow him on Twitter @TDDavidHurst and Instagram @TDDavidHurst.
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