Girl, 7, alerts residents to fire that destroys multifamily home
A 7-year-old girl discovered a fire in her Butler apartment building Monday, July 17, afternoon and helped alert its other residents, who safely got out of the two-story multifamily home.
Emma Smith said she found a fire in her apartment at 404 E. Locust St. at around 3 p.m. and told her mother. They alerted authorities and the estimated 10 residents who were inside the building.
“I heard the fire alarm and looked up and there was smoke on the wall,” Emma said.
No one was injured in the fire, but one cat died and another pet is missing, Butler Bureau of Fire chief Chris Switala said. The building is uninhabitable, and its residents are being aided by American Red Cross.
Switala said crews arrived at the house shortly after 3 p.m., and it took about an hour to get the fire under control due to the positioning of the roof on the building.
Switala said three of the four units at the multifamily house were damaged by the fire, and the fourth unit was relatively unaffected.
Flames and smoke were billowing from the second floor of the building and spread to other parts of the structure. The fire also burned the siding off the house next door, which also was evacuated.
Ashley McCune, who has lived next door to the home for about two weeks, was alerted to the fire by neighbors.
“Someone came to get us out,” McCune said.
Charles Carmody, who lives in a house behind the structure, said it wasn’t the first time there had been a fire at the address. He saw the fire from his window while washing dishes.
“It happened about 25 years ago,” Carmody said of the previous fire. “So far my house isn’t burned this time.”
Butler Bureau of Fire, Butler Township Volunteer Fire District, Herman Volunteer Fire Company, Unionville Volunteer Fire Company, VA Butler Fire and Emergency Services, Butler Bureau of Police and Butler Ambulance Service responded to the scene. East Locust Street and some of the surrounding streets were closed while crews battled the fire.
Switala said he was the last to leave the scene at around 6:15 p.m. The state police fire marshal is going to investigate the cause of the fire.
