Kittanning Hose Company #6 Fire Chief Scott Kline discusses the fire that was hot enough on the first floor of this Hawthorne Avenue home that it broke windows.
Firefighters Respond to Hawthorne Avenue Home
Two battery chargers for cordless drills are being blamed for a fire in Kittanning Borough Tuesday morning.
Resident Todd McGinnis had been doing some remodeling and had two cordless drills plugged in at his house at 636 Hawthorne Avenue.
“The chargers shorted out and caught a recliner chair on fire,” said Kittanning Borough Fire Marshal Earl “Buzz” Kline. “Then the sofa and love seat caught fire. It generated a large amount of heat.”
Kline said the heat was so intense that several windows cracked and it melted the plastic window frames.
Although the fire did not go anywhere but the living room area, Kline said smoke and heat damage reached the upper floor and attic.
“There was no structural damage done, but it will take a lot of cleaning and restoration to get smoke out of there,” Kline said. He reported that water damage was limited to the front area of the home. “We sprayed foam on it to make sure nothing rekindled.”
According to Kline, McGinnis was not home at the time. He was returning home shortly before 11AM when he opened the back door of the residence and saw smoke.
“It’s good thing he opened back door. When you have a fire that hot, a blast of oxygen could have erupted everything,” Kline said. “If it had been another five minutes, the front windows would have blown out. It was caught in time to keep damage to a minimum, although there was still extensive damage.
In addition to all three Kittanning fire departments, both West Kittanning and Rayburn Township sent apparatus and manpower.
Firefighters discuss the damage of a house at 636 Hawthorne Avenue in Kittanning after a fire in the first floor destroyed furniture and melted furnishings.