(Credit: North Penn Fire Company)
There were no injuries in the three-story fire.
Multiple units were called to a three-story house fire early Tuesday morning, as emergency responders fought a two-alarm blaze in the 500 block of Penllyn Pike in Lower Gwynedd Township.
Fire Chief Jay Leadbeater, of Wissahickon Fire Company Station 7, said that a call came in around 2:15 a.m. from an automated alarm system, in the early morning hours of July 23.
“No one was home,” said Leadbeater of the fire that resulted in no injuries. “The homeowners were out of the country.
The chief said he responded to the initial call with a police officer from Lower Gwynedd Township Police and rather quickly determined that, what originally came in as an automatic fire alarm call, was far more.
“We saw we had a pretty good house fire going,” he said. “It took us a while to contain it.”
Leadbeater said that the early morning weather was not much help.
“It was pouring rain at the time,” he said. The automated system notified county dispatch that several smoke detectors tripped at once, forcing emergency services to send out help.
The cause of the fire is still unknown.
“We’re pretty sure it started on the first floor, I believe in the living room area,” said the chief. Leadbeater added, however, that the fire’s cause is still under investigation at this time.
In addition to Wissahickon Fire, crews from North Penn Volunteer Fire Company, the Fire Department of Montgomery Township, Fort Washington Fire Company, and other emergency services were dispatched to put out the blaze. Crews did not disperse until after 7:30 a.m. on July 23.
