Five people escape Wood Street fire in Johnstown

Jan. 23--One person was taken to the hospital and four others fled a Hornerstown home Wednesday when a fire started in the attic.

The two-alarm blaze broke out around 8:30 p.m. at a duplex in the 600 block of Wood Street.

Roseanne Card said she was downstairs with her daughter and another woman on one side of the duplex when the fire started in a cubbyhole in the attic.

"I pulled the pin on the fire extinguisher," Card said through tears. "It didn't work. I just called the landlord. He said he can't do anything because he has no insurance.

"I'm a recovering drug addict," she said.

"I work two jobs. I just lost everything in five minutes."

A couple, believed to be in their 70s, was evacuated from the other side of the duplex.

A neighbor came over to give Card a blanket. Other neighbors watched as firefighters shot water at the fire from the top of a ladder.

A Cambria County 911 supervisor said one person was taken to Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center. Firefighters from Johnstown, Richland and West Hills were at the scene along with EMS crews from 7th Ward and Upper Yoder Township.

Card said about a month ago an outlet in the house caught fire, but her daughter put out the fire with water.

"The landlord came, and he plugged something in and said everything was OK and he left," Card said.

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