SHENANDOAH - An intense fire in sub-zero temperatures destroyed a double-block home on Ferguson Street early Tuesday.
The fire ravaged the 216 S. Ferguson St. home of Michael Cooney as well as an unoccupied adjoining house at 218 S. Ferguson St. owned by Joseph G. Hydock.
According to police, Cooney told fire officials that he wasn't sleeping well early Tuesday morning, so he bundled up in warm clothing and went out for a walk about 5 a.m. He then went to pass the time at the nearby Knights of Columbus post home, where he is a member. Cooney was at the Knights of Columbus when the fire broke out.
The temperature hovered around minus 5 degrees at 7:25 a.m. when the fire alarm sounded.
First to arrive at the scene, Shenandoah police Lt. Gary Kepple said heavy smoke was billowing out both sides of the double home when he arrived. Within moments, the window glass exploded from the intense heat inside the structure.
"Smoke was pouring out the windows when I got there. Then the glass blew out and it was just flames," Kepple said.
The police officer tried to get inside the house to look for occupants, but the fire was raging inside and the smoke was too heavy. Kepple ran to neighboring homes, knocking on doors to awaken sleeping neighbors as firefighters arrived at the scene.
Ferguson Street is a narrow, single-lane, residential alley that runs parallel to Shenandoah's Main Street, one block to the west. The tight space added a challenge to firefighters who fought the fire in dangerously cold wind chill conditions.
According to the National Weather Service, winds combined with Tuesday morning's bitterly cold temperatures created "extremely dangerous conditions for exposed skin." Conditions were cold enough to cause frostbite in about 15 minutes or less, the weather service reported.
As firefighters trained hoses on the fire, the frigid air turned the water to ice almost immediately. A foggy mist, caused by water hitting the intense fire, swirled in the air and froze fast on every surface it touched, including nearby vehicles, utility wires and firefighters' faces and equipment.
Several firefighters emerged from the fire fight with their clothing and gear coated in a thick crust of ice. Hand-held radios clipped to many firefighters' coats were frozen fast to the men's jackets under a layer of ice. Some firefighters needed help to pry off the breathing apparatus face masks that were frozen in place. Firefighters with beards or mustaches had heavy layers of white ice-crystals frozen to their facial hair.
Ryan Township Fire Company set up a heated, inflatable dome-shaped shelter on the unit block of West Cherry Street where firefighters could take refuge from the intense cold, warm up and be evaluated by medics, if needed.
There were no immediate reports of any injuries, police said.
Water flowing from hydrants risked freezing in the fire hoses that snaked across the slushy, ice-coated streets. Shenandoah's Defender Fire Company of Turkey Run lost use of a 100-foot, five-inch diameter hose when the water inside froze and the hose burst.
"A fire couldn't come at a worse time," said Rich Mensick, former borough fire chief and current foreman with the borough water authority. "There's not a lot you can do in these conditions. Every time there's a gust of wind, it feeds the fire," he said.
The protective turn-out gear worn by firefighters protects from heat, Mensick said, but not cold.
"These guys are taking a beating," he said.
Crews pumped water on the flames for four hours as wind-fed flames continued to erupt from any area of the structure not already devoured by flames. The front porch and roof of the home, weakened by fire damage and weighed down by the heavy build-up of ice, crashed to the street as firefighters continued to pump fast-freezing water onto the inferno.
"It collapsed on itself," firefighter Bill Moyer Sr., Shenandoah Heights, said.
Massive icicles formed on power lines in the area, knocking out power to more than 870 electric customers in the borough. Crews from PPL had the power restored to most homes within two hours. The outage continued to affect residents in the immediate area for several hours until firefighters cleared the scene and PPL crews could access the problem area.
If firefighters had one advantage, it was the vacant lot on each side of the structure, which gave the flames no where to spread beyond the double home.
As water froze to the ground, it created a riverbed of ice that channeled flowing water from Ferguson Street to South Main Street, which is Route 924. The difference in temperature between the flowing water and the frigid air caused an eerie fog to rise off the puddles and slush on South Main Street. Borough street crews and PennDOT plow drivers worked to clear the thickening ice flow from the roadway using plows, salt and cinders for traction.
The firefighters won the battle about noon. Weary, they folded frozen hoses and packed ice-encrusted equipment onto trucks, ready to transport the gear back to the firehouses to thaw and dry.
Following a post-fire conference with borough fire Chief Russ Schumack, Kepple said a state police fire marshal would likely be called in today to assist the fire department with investigating the fire's cause and origin.
Kepple said Cooney told fire officials he augmented his home heat with an electric space heater and also used an electric blanket in his bedroom. If either of those items sparked the fire, Kepple said the cause would be deemed accidental.
The Red Cross was on scene, providing hot coffee and water to the firefighters and will assist Cooney in securing emergency clothing and shelter as needed, Kepple said.
Numerous area fire companies assisted Shenandoah emergency responders at the scene.