ALLENTOWN, Pa. — An East Allentown home was destroyed by fire that broke out early Sunday afternoon.
No one was in the home on the 1900 block of East Keats Street, directly behind the Rita's Italian Ice on Union Boulevard, at the time of the fire, officials said.
A family friend waited in the parking lot across the street with the family's service dog, Baby, safe inside her car, as Allentown firefighters worked to contain the blaze, which quickly spread to the upper floors.
"No, that's black smoke, he said, so we rushed over there and right away he called 9-1-1 and I started banging on the door to make sure no one was home."Marcos Rivera, of Coopersburg
Coopersburg father and son Marcos Rivera and Isaac Santos said they were training just up the street at Zombie Brazilian Jiu Jitsu when they saw the smoke.
"At first I thought it was from maybe a washing machine," Rivera said. But his son, 16-year-old Santos, a volunteer firefighter with the Coopersburg fire company, disagreed.
"'No, that's black smoke,' he said, so we rushed over there and right away he called 9-1-1 and I started banging on the door to make sure no one was home," Rivera said.
Both men said the fire started on the right-hand side of the house, under the porch.
That's when Santos grabbed a garden hose and began wetting the house and hedges at the side.
"I was just trying to eliminate the possibility of it spreading," Santos said.
Darker smoke, more contaminants
Bill Klucharich, who lives several blocks away, said he was taking his usual walk around the neighborhood, just turning onto East Keats Street, when he noticed smoke coming out of a basement window.
"A little mist of smoke coming out, and in 10 minutes, the whole porch was on fire," he said.
He said a plumber used to live in the house but was unsure of the current residents.
Allentown Fire Police Captain John Wexler lives a few blocks away and said he had just finished working the St. Luke's marathon that was going on, and came up to offer assistance.
"I was still in my uniform, so I came up to see if I could be of help, but they got it contained, so I thought I'd just stick around to be another set of eyes," he said.
"Black smoke is bad. The darker the smoke, the more contaminants, the more particulates are in the fire."Allentown Fire Police Captain John Wexler
The fire's dark cloud of smoke could be seen from Route 22 just before the Airport Road exit.
"Black smoke is bad," Wexler said. "The darker the smoke, the more contaminants, the more particulates are in the fire. You don't want to be near that."
Firefighters at 3:30 p.m. had contained the fire but continued soaking the structure, putting out hot spots and vertically venting openings in the roof and upper windows where rising heat could cause heat and smoke to quickly become fire.
This report will be updated.
