Addition to historic Saxonburg house catches fire, house OK
SAXONBURG — Firemen overtook Main Street early Friday, June 30, but this time in response to a house fire instead of a parade.
One day after the Fireman’s Parade, crews battled a fire in the addition of a historic house at 115 W. Main St., closing the street.
The circa-1880 structure likely suffered only smoke damage, officials said, but the addition to the house was destroyed by the blaze.
The fire was reported at 6:50 a.m., and crews fought the flames for a half-hour, according to dispatch.
Chris Dean, chief of Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Department, said the fire’s cause is under investigation.
“When we got here the garage was gone,” he said. “The main, old house is still intact, just smoke damaged.”
Crews continued working with chain saws on the roof of the addition once the fire was out, checking for hot spots.
Homeowner Bob Bauman said he was asleep in a chair when he heard booming noises coming from the garage.
He said he thinks the sounds came from paint cans exploding in the garage.
“The smoke hit me in the face,” he said.
Bauman escaped the fire with his dog, Xenos.
“I don’t think it’s a total loss,” he said.
Bauman said his car was in the garage and most likely is damaged.
The addition to the house was built 20 years ago, according to Bauman.
Fred Caesar, of the Saxonburg Historical Society, said two famous names in the borough are connected to the house.
Amelia Roebling Knoch, daughter of Carl Roebling and niece of John Roebling, the town's co-founders, and her husband, Herman Knoch, built the house in 1880.
Amelia died in the house on May 21, 1933.
Caesar said the property remained in the Knoch family until 1943. It went through a few other owners before being purchased by Bauman and his wife, Pamela, in 1983.
Pamela Bauman was a borough council member and much-loved mayor of Saxonburg from 2013 until her death Feb. 18, 2016.
Caesar, who took pictures of the fire for historical purposes, said he is relieved the historical section of the house that faces West Main Street emerged largely unscathed.
"The fire department did a great job," Caesar said. "You've got to give our firefighters and all the firefighters who came from different departments credit for keeping it from the historic part of the house."
He said firetrucks nearly blinded him as he tried to take pictures.
"Most of the firetrucks there were firetrucks that were in the parade last night," Caesar said. "They were all polished up and looking nice."
Buffalo and Middlesex township volunteer fire companies, Harrison Hills Volunteer Fire Department in Allegheny County, and Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company EMS also responded to the scene.
