Fire marshal to investigate cause of East Deer house fire

Jan. 23--An East Deer man said he was trying to thaw frozen water pipes when his home caught fire Thursday morning.

The fire at 931 Bellview St. was reported around 5:45 a.m., according to Allegheny County 911.

No injuries were reported.

Zachary Shutak, 24, said he was using a heat gun to thaw the pipes in the basement so his girlfriend, Tori Mikula, could take a shower before going to work.

Mikula said she works at Sheetz in Cheswick.

"It gets real cold in the garage because there's no heat in the garage," he said.

Shutak said he was using a heat gun to thaw the pipes but isn't sure what happened that caused the fire.

"It was really, really, really smoky," he said. "I was able to use a fire extinguisher on it in the basement, but it couldn't put it out."

East Deer fire Chief Jack Bailie Jr. said the fire was contained to the basement, but that officials were not certain of the cause. The Allegheny County fire marshal was expected to investigate.

Bailie said the fire appeared to have been burning for a while. The floor joists in the basement were charred, and the fire got hot enough to melt the water pipes, which he said put out some of the fire.

Bailie said an air conditioner, which was plugged in, and other things in the basement were burning when firefighters arrived.

Firefighters were concerned the fire was spreading up the house inside the walls and used heat cameras to check. Although smoke was seen coming out of the higher levels of the house, Bailie said that's all it was.

Bailie said there was moderate fire damage in the basement and only smoke damage in the rest of the house.

Shutak and Mikula were mainly concerned about their six pets, four cats and two dogs. At one point, Mikula said one cat was missing, while the rest were OK.

Shutak said they've owned the house for about three years but do not have insurance.

"I don't know what we're going to do," he said.

Mikula tried to reassure him they'd be OK.

"It's just stuff," she said.

Brian C. Rittmeyer is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Brian at 724-226-4701, [email protected] or via Twitter .

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