SCHUYLKILL COUNTY, Pa. — The house in Blue Mountain Heights in Wayne Township near Schuylkill Haven is a total loss; firefighters say there was smoke coming from the eaves when they arrived late Sunday morning.
But the access road from Route 183 was a sheet of ice.
"One of the tankers tried to get up the hill, it tried to get up, and it nearly flipped onto the interstate," said Joel Miller.
Neighbors like Joel Miller and the firefighters say it's a private road, so they called a private plower to come to salt the road while firefighters tried another way to get water onto the burning home.
"So they had to go through the effort of several hoses up to here while the house was burning down to get it to go out. Half the house is gone," said Miller.
Firefighters ran 1,500 feet of hose, and some heavy-duty brush trucks were able to make it up the hill with a backup water supply. But Summit Station Fire Chief Chris Krause says the icy conditions cost them about half an hour.
"Thirty minutes is a long time for a fire to evolve into fully involved," said Chief Krause.
Two people were home at the time of the fire; they made it out ok.
Despite the firefighters' best efforts, the family will have to find somewhere else to live.
"Very, very time-consuming and difficult, but Mother Nature, you just have to deal with what you're handed with and go from there," said Chief Krause.
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