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One Person Hurt as Flames Damage Pine Grove Homes

PINE GROVE — Authorities are investigating what caused a fire Wednesday morning in Schuylkill County. Flames burned through two homes in Pine Grove and se...
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PINE GROVE -- Authorities are investigating what caused a fire Wednesday morning in Schuylkill County. Flames burned through two homes in Pine Grove and sent one teenager to the hospital.

The fire broke out around 9 a.m. Thursday at the home on Maple Street in Pine Grove.

Crime scene tape lined the outside of the double-block home, but investigators have not said whether the fire is suspicious. They did say they are not ruling that out.

The fire burned for nearly two hours.

The fire started in the home on the left, 33 Maple Street, and spread to the connected home on the right, 35 Maple Street.

"The flames were shooting out that side. It was scary, I tell you," said Dennis Adams.

The fire had just got its start when Adams drove by and noticed flames. His sister lives on one side of the double-block home. No one was there but an 18 year old and his girlfriend where in the other side where the fire started.

"They went downstairs to brush their teeth and when they went back up, there was a fire in the bedroom. I know he was burned bad in the face, and they think his lungs were burned internally. He was flown to Lehigh," said Mary Shrive, great-aunt of the burn victim.

She believes that after the fire started, the teen who was burned may have gone back into the home to either put the fire out or get some family belongings.

"I called him right away, as soon as I heard, and I said, 'get out of that house!' He was screaming, I don't know, I assumed he was already burned when I talked to him," Shrive recalled.

Initially firefighters believed that the flames started on the side of the home where there was a propane tank, but now investigators say it's clear the fire started in the 18 year old's bedroom in the attic.

Pine Grove police and a state police fire marshal are still investigating what caused the fire. They say that it was not caused by an electrical problem.

Investigators say they are waiting to talk with the 18 year old and his girlfriend who were in the home when the fire started. The 18 year old is still in the hospital. His condition is listed as stable.

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