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Scranton Home Ripped by Fire

SCRANTON — Flames ripped through home in the south side of Scranton Thursday morning. It started before 10:30 a.m. in the home in the 300 block of South I...

SCRANTON -- Flames ripped through home in the south side of Scranton Thursday morning.

It started before 10:30 a.m. in the home in the 300 block of South Irving Avenue.

The corner home on South Irving Avenue and River Street has been there as long as the neighbors can remember.

scr fire

"It just went up, flames just came out at him. So, it must have been combustion. It's bad, bad thing," said neighbor Georgeanne Merritt.

The family of six who lived there just purchased the home in December. Mom and two older children were at work and school at the time of the fire. The grandmother, dad, and a 2-year-old child were at home, but all three of them go out safely.

"From what I understand, the grandmother was in the kitchen and saw fire, looked out the window somehow and saw fire, told the son and the baby, 'get out,' said Scranton Fire Chief Pat Desarno. "And when our crews arrived, the house was fully involved. There was a wraparound porch that was fully involved. We're assuming, it looks like all indications are, it started from the outside, somehow. I don't know how yet."

Though firefighters are still investigating a cause, neighbors think a cigarette might have sparked the fire, something that recently happened to Dillon Layre.

"Well, this just happened, I put a cigarette out and I dumped my cigarettes out and my garbage can set on fire. I was like, I ran downstairs, I'm not surprised, this literally just happened to me like two days ago," said Layre.

There is no word yet if there are any immediate plans to tear down the home. The family is being helped by the American Red Cross and will be staying in a hotel.

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