Forest Hills Home Heavily Damaged By Fire
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FOREST HILLS, Pa. (KDKA) --- Crews battled a residential fire early Thursday morning in Forest Hills.
Firefighters were called to the home in the 200 block of Avenue F shortly before 1:30 a.m. Forest Hills Fire Chief Jim Theilacker said firefighters found heavy fire coming out of the front door.
He said the fire started in the home's basement.
"It appears it ran the wall coming out of the basement in a clothes chute," said Chief Theilacker. "It seems like the original origin of the fire was down in the basement coming from the furnace area."
The woman living at the home was not there at the time of the fire.
The home sustained significant smoke damage.
Hours after the flames were extinguished, the homeowner came to check out the damage.
"This is quite upsetting," Robert Summer said. "The house is a total mess. Only thing salvageable is the roof from what I can observe at this point."
Summer says his parents bought the house in the 1920s and its been in the family ever since.
"I have a lot of memories here, actually," Summer said. "I was born here in 1932 and the cows were in the backyard."
The cause of the fire is under investigation, but Summer believes it was the furnace.
"It was definitely the furnace. All evidence shows it. I went down to the basement to examine it," said Summer.
Summer said it will take months to repair the home.
Restoration crews have on scene for several hours boarding up the house.