A good Samaritan’s efforts when a fire broke out in the Allison Hill neighborhood of Harrisburg may have helped the flames to spread, according to Harrisburg fire chief Brian Enterline.
Crews were dispatched at around 11:20 a.m. Friday to the 1600 block of Hunter Street for a reported structure fire. Firefighters arrived to see smoke and flames coming from the first and second floors of one of the rowhomes in the area, Enterline said.
“We actually had crews just coming back from Paxton Street, and they reported at (the time of) dispatch heavy smoke in the area,” he said. “Because of the nature of the buildings, it quickly spread to an adjoining wood frame house next door, as well as to the attached rowhomes to the east of these buildings."
Enterline attributed the quick and aggressive response from firefighters as what kept the flames from spreading further. A second alarm was called for more apparatus and firefighters due to the number of rowhomes involved.
Four buildings were affected by the fire – two had heavy fire damage, while the other two had smoke and water damage. Two families were displaced and were assisted by the American Red Cross, Enterline said.
Though the cause of the fire remains under investigation, Enterline said the fire may have been fueled by someone opening the door of one of the affected homes.
“We believe that the fire was fueled by some neighbors opening a door up to make sure nobody was inside,” he said, adding that the opened door enabled oxygen to fuel the fire
Enterline urged the public that if they find themselves in a similar situation, they should close the door after they check to make sure everybody got out of a burning house safely.
“If you don’t close that door, it really fuels the fire, gives it the oxygen that it needs, and it just literally explodes,” he said. “Without oxygen, the fire dies down. As soon as it gets that air from the outside, it just explodes literally into a fireball.”
No injuries were reported to residents or firefighters.
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