An electrical wire feeding a heated ceiling panel started a fire Tuesday morning that caused an estimated $150,000 damage to a city home.
Pottsville fire Chief Todd March said crews were called at 5:53 a.m. to the home of Ann Marie Paterekas at 211 Deerfield Drive and found heavy fire in the attic area.
He said firefighters quickly extinguished the bulk of the fire and, within 30 minutes, had it completely under control. Crews remained on the scene until about 7 a.m. to make sure the fire was completely extinguished.
March said he determined the fire was accidental, starting in an overheated electrical wire that feeds Gold Bond Fire-Shield Panelectric panels that were installed in the ceilings of the home when it was constructed in the mid-1970s.
The chief said the panels, similar to plaster drywall sheets but smaller, have heating coils built in and use electricity to provide heat.
March said seeing such heating panels was a first for him in his more than three decades fighting fires.
Since the panels were in a second floor ceiling, he said insulation on top, between the ceiling and the attic, allowed the fire time to smolder and intensify before being discovered.
When the fire finally broke through the insulation, it quickly spread to the attic roof where it eventually burned through.
Paterekas said she was asleep and woke before her alarm clock went off. She then she heard a noise from the attic and thought it may have been a mouse or maybe it was raining out.
"I went outside to see if it was raining and looked back and saw fire," she said.
March said that the place where the fire started and the fact there was heavy insulation kept Paterekas from detecting the fire earlier.
"There was no smoke, she probably didn't smell anything," March said. "That (the fire) had to have been burning for a couple of hours."
March said no one was injured and that all city fire companies responded to the call along with Pottsville-Schuylkill Haven Area EMS and city police.
Schuylkill Haven firefighters were called for their Rapid Intervention Team but their services were not needed.