KELAYRES — McAdoo Fire Department volunteers had just arrived at the McAdoo-Kelayres Elementary/Middle School for the school’s annual egg drop Friday when a kitchen fire broke out in a Kelayres home.
In the two minutes it took to travel to the 9 Third St. property, flames had spread from the kitchen to the living room area, Michael “Twiggy” Bowman, a McAdoo aerial ladder foreman, said.
The tenants, a mother and her son, along with a few pets, had safely evacuated, but Bowman called damages to the first level of the home “severe.”
He believed the home — one in a three-unit building — was unlivable and said the American Red Cross was called to provide temporary shelter for the family.
“It looks like the air helped the fire,” Bowman said, noting that the home’s windows had been open because of the day’s balmy temperatures.
Adjoining units at 11 and 13 Third St. were spared from the flames; however, 11 Third St. sustained some smoke damage, Bowman said.
The fire call came in about 12:15 p.m., just after Bowman showed up at the school in the department’s aerial ladder truck. He and his crew were the first to arrive at the scene, and once they realized the intensity of the fire, he called for more responders.
The lunchtime fire, he said, meant many volunteers were at work, and those who weren’t were readying for second-shift jobs.
“I’d rather have more people here and not need them than not enough,” he said of the second alarm call.
Fire trucks from the Mahanoy City, Sheppton-Oneida and Hazle Township fire departments parked along Market Street, where firefighters ran a hose to a hydrant at the intersection of North Street. A tanker/pumper from the Quakake Fire Department in Rush Township also supplied water, and crews from Freeland and the Hazle Township fire departments assisted.
Bowman was pleased with the response and quick work, and thanked those who assisted at the scene.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by a state police fire marshal.