UPDATE Investigators say Shamokin, Mount Carmel fires not suspicious

Daily Item (Sunbury, PA)

Dec. 12--MOUNT CARMEL -- Two fires that badly damaged homes Tuesday in Mount Carmel and Shamokin are not considered suspicious, according to investigators.

The fires occurred less than three hours apart and saw firefighters from both communities as well as surrounding areas respond to each incident.

Trooper Jim Nizinski, state police fire marshal based at the Milton station, investigated the blaze at 32-34 W. Fifth St., Mount Carmel. Shamokin Patrolman Ray Siko II, the city's fire investigator, handled the incident at 50 W. Willow St in the city.

Both investigators ruled the cause of the respective fires as undetermined. Though each property sustained heavy damages, neither investigator declared the homes a total loss, reserving comment in lieu of hearing from insurance adjusters.

Nizinski worked with Trooper Nathan Birth, an alternate marshal from Montoursville, beginning at about 9 a.m. Wednesday. Firefighters were dispatched there about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday for a working structure fire.

"It's a mess inside," Nizinski said of the interior of 34 W. Fifth St., where the fire ignited near a closet in a second-floor bedroom.

According to Nizinski, PPL informed borough police that electric service wasn't active at the panel box. However, the investigators found wires were charged near where the fire sparked. The extent of damage and the state of the wiring wouldn't allow for a firm conclusion that the nature of the blaze was electrical, Nizinski said. He noted that 32 W. Fifth St. did have electric service.

Siko worked with fire chiefs and volunteers from the Shamokin Fire Bureau, beginning about noon Wednesday. He concluded that the blaze originated in a laundry room to the rear of the single home at Seventh and Willow streets.

The fire there was first reported about 6:45 p.m. Tuesday. It displaced residents Arthur and Debra Crone. Neighbors and police officers helped the couple escape unharmed, according to Police Chief Darwin Tobias III.

The Mount Carmel properties are vacant and were recently purchased by brothers George and William Grogan. Neither property was insured, according to George Grogan, who was on scene Wednesday morning.

The Grogans hoped to make some light renovations and find tenants for each half of the home. George Grogan, of Shamokin, said he closed on the purchase of his half-double on Nov. 13. He said his brother, a Sayre resident who wasn't on the scene, followed suit on the other half on Dec. 3.

"It was going to be an easy fix," Grogan said. "Now, not so much."

Members of Mount Carmel area fire companies arriving at the scene Tuesday night were met by heavy smoke and flames exposed and spreading quickly. The incident was raised to a second alarm to request mutual aid from fire companies in the Shamokin area and Schuylkill County.

Crews in the Shamokin area were winding down at the scene of the residential fire at Seventh and Willow streets when they were called to assist in Mount Carmel. It was their third response to a house fire in a 48-hour period.

"We didn't even have the hose up yet," Chief Bruce Rogers, Shamokin Fire Bureau, said of how the city volunteers were still working to clear the scene when the Mount Carmel fire occurred.

Initial reports of possible entrapment were ruled out quickly as initial responders to the scene made entry and cleared the properties on West Fifth Street, according to emergency communications broadcast Tuesday night.

Windows and exterior doors on both halves of the home were opened or knocked out to ventilate the structure. The roof was also cut open as firefighters worked to bring the blaze under control.

The fire was brought under control at 10:10 p.m., according to emergency communications, about 40 minutes after it was first reported. Both halves sustained heavy fire damage on the interior, visible from the sidewalk and street around the property, as well as additional damages to the exterior.

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