WILLIAMSPORT -- Williamsport firefighters are trying to figure out what caused flames that forced five people out of their homes late Sunday night. Newswatch 16 spoke with some of the people were in the double block home when the fire started.
Fire investigators in Williamsport say there were two people inside the double block home when the fire started. We spoke with one of the renters Monday as crews searched through the burned building.
Williamsport fire investigators dug through debris on the back porch of a double block home in the Newberry section of Williamsport.
"It was going," said Scott DiMarco from Williamsport.
Smoke and flames lit up the night sky on Dove Street. The fire destroyed half of a double block home where two adults and two children lived. Scott DiMarco lived alone on the other side of the house.
DiMarco's mother owns the house. His family helped pack him a suitcase full of clothes. While investigators worked to find the cause of the flames. DiMarco was inside sound asleep when the fire broke out.
"I heard pounding on my door and thought who the heck was this," said DiMarco.
It was his neighbor warning him about the fire.
"My neighbors said my back porch was on fire," said DiMarco.
DiMarco grabbed his fire extinguisher and tried putting it out. He says that did not work.
"So, I got the fire or the water hose out and started spraying that," said DiMarco.
Wires started popping. Flames got bigger. That's when DiMarco says he backed away. He waited with neighbors for emergency crews.
"A lot of flames. A lot of flames," said Jason Kissell from Williamsport.
Those flames were so intense at one point they reached over to the neighbor’s property, melting the siding on the house. Neighbors were inside. They rushed to get out.
"I didn't really know what was going on. I just knew I had to get out of the house. It was almost like a nightmare," said Kissell.
Jason Kissell lives in the house next door. Kissell says the family of four just moved in a few months ago. Kissell and DiMarco's family say they are happy everyone got out safely.
"We just got to take it one day at a time and hopefully get things cleaned up."
The family of four did not come back to the house when Newswatch 16 was there Monday. DiMarco says his mother does have fire insurance on the building. Again investigators are still looking for the cause of Sunday night’s fire in Williamsport.
