ZION GROVE - A fast-moving fire destroyed a North Union Township home early Thursday morning.
Neighbors summoned firefighters to 1341 Catawissa Creek Road near Zion Grove at 5:47 a.m. as flames raged from the home's second floor.
Firefighters from the Nuremberg-Weston Fire Company arrived to find a wall of flames from the basement to the peak of the roof, fire Chief Joe Lescowitch said.
"It was gone when we got there," he said. "It was through the roof."
Fog, rain and a lack of hydrants in the mainly rural area didn't help, Lescowitch said. Firefighters also had to travel roads that are narrow and winding in spots to reach the home, owned by Dave and Betty Halushack, he said.
Firefighters brought the two-alarm blaze under control in about 45 minutes and had it completely out in an hour and a half, Lescowitch said. They remained at the house, which was reduced to a shell of burnt beams and wood, for several hours, he said.
Catawissa Creek Road was reduced to one lane while firefighters worked, Lescowitch said, adding they wanted to keep it open to allow school buses and other motorists to move through.
"It's too hard to tell," he said about the fire's origin. "The state police fire marshal is there now."
No one was home at the time of the fire, Lescowitch said, and no one was injured.
Neighbor Bob Dinofa talked to the fire marshal Thursday morning, showing him photographs of the fire on his camera.
Dinofa believes lightning from the previous night's storms may be the cause of the fire. He heard a thunderous boom before darkness set in, and looked outside for damage but didn't see anything, he said.
Another neighbor, who came to offer a generator to the Halushacks, told a similar tale.
Neither noticed anything wrong at the Halushacks' home, they said. Dinofa had even walked his dog around the property the night before, he said.
They discovered the fire about 5:45 a.m., Dinofa said, and his wife called 911.
"I was here first," he said, explaining how flames were only on the second floor of the home at that time, and then spread.
"I'm sick over this," Dinofa said, adding that his neighbors had done a lot of work to the home and just added a bar.
He called the Halushacks, who were away on vacation, to tell them about the devastation and they were returning later in the day, he said. The house was insured, Dinofa said.
An insurance investigator joined the fire marshal Thursday afternoon, Lescowitch said, and planned to look at lightning strikes in the area, hoping to use GPS to pinpoint the location.
Firefighters from Shenandoah, Shenandoah Heights, Mahanoy City, Beaver Township, Ringtown, Hazle Township and Aristes responded, Lescowitch said.