SHICKSHINNY, Pa. — Nobody was hurt after an intense and destructive fire swallowed a double block home on the corner of South Main and East Bulter Streets in Shickshinny.
The call came in around 3 Friday afternoon and shortly after flames flew as firefighters worked to get the three-alarm fire under control.
Viewer video sent to Newswatch 16 shows the flames as the building collapsed.
"It had a heck of a head start on us, 'cause we got here three, three and a half minutes after the first tone went out and it was already through the roof so," said Chief Stephen McDaniels of Mocanaqua Vol. Fire Company.
The aftermath -- the home nearly leveled.
Fire officials tell us a total of five people lived at the home. The Red Cross is assisting those in need.
Just next door, two cats were rescued after the fire threatened a part of that home. Besides some cosmetic fixes, the house is expected to be okay. There is no word on where that family is staying tonight.
Brittney Kruczek lives in the double home. She tells Newswatch 16 she wasn't home when the fire started.
"I was at Geisinger south. I'm a phlebotomist up there and I run with the ambulance here in town and it came over my phone and I didn't think anything of it cause no address came over but then I had numerous calls. Of course, I was at work so I didn't answer my phone. And I finally answered it and that's when they told me that it was my house that was on fire and I hurried up and rushed out of work," said fire victim Brittney Kruczek.
Kruczek says her grandfather was the person home at the time of the fire. He sustained minor burn injuries to his hand.
She says more than three dogs and a snake perished in the flames.
"I have nothing. My daughter has nothing. My daughter said to my aunt I don't have any more toys now. Which they're replaceable, I really don't care. She was at school. I'm happy she was out. I don't. Things can be replaced. People can't," said Kruczek.
Fire officials believe the blaze started on the first floor.
A state police fire marshal has been called in to investigate the fire in Luzerne County.
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