Fire destroys couple's Allegheny Township home, kills family dog

Jan. 3--Fire tore through a newlywed couple's Allegheny Township home Friday morning, destroying all of their wedding gifts and other belongings and killing their beloved 1-year-old dog.

"All of our wedding presents, everything, was inside the house," Jason Femc, 38, said as he stood outside the South Glosser Hill Road home in a rain-soaked sweatshirt and blue jeans.

Femc said he returned home from taking his wife to work in Pittsburgh to find firefighters battling the blaze, which was reported just before 7:30 a.m. Nine fire companies responded.

Flames shot out the side of the wood-frame house and then followed a wall up to the ceiling and started to burn the attic, according to firefighters.

Femc approached several firefighters at the scene asking if they had seen Gunner, the couple's pit bull-mastiff. Later, as Femc stood with two sisters-in-law, Allegheny Township Company No. 2 Assistant Fire Chief Bill Klems delivered the news that Gunner had died in the blaze. The dog was alone inside the house when the fire started.

Devastated, Femc briefly turned away before turning back around to thank firefighters.

Femc said he and his wife, Marissa (Hoover) Femc, 32, got married in a beach wedding in October and had moved into the home last March.

"And now this," he said.

Authorities are trying to determine what caused the fire.

"We knew that they left at 5:30 (a.m.) and all of the appliances were off," Klems said. "We don't know what caused the fire."

Neighbors said they would raise money to assist the Femcs. Klems said the couple has fire insurance.

Chuck Biedka is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Chuck at 724-226-4711, [email protected] or via Twitter .

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