No injuries as abandoned house burns down on Whitestown Road
No injuries were reported after an unoccupied and abandoned home at the intersection of Whitestown Road and Young Avenue in Butler Township caught fire and reportedly exploded, on Sunday afternoon, April 27.
The incident was first reported shortly after 4:30 p.m. According to the initial scanner dispatch, several callers reported that the structure “exploded” then caught fire. Multiple eyewitnesses, including next-door neighbors Terry and Jill Callen, reported hearing a series of loud banging sounds that occurred just as the fire began.
“I was in the basement and I heard banging,” Terry Callen said. “I ran up to see what all the commotion was. I thought maybe something blew over on the back deck. When I got up, that’s when I saw the house was on fire and more explosions were going off inside the house. Maybe paint cans exploding, who knows what it was. There was lots of things exploding inside for at least 10-15 minutes.”
By the time emergency crews arrived, the house was completely engulfed in smoke that wafted over the surrounding neighborhoods, and the roof had practically vanished. Still, fire crews managed to get the blaze under control in roughly an hour.
The incident led emergency crews to shut down a section of Whitestown Road on Sunday afternoon near the Kiddie City child care center.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown. According to Mike Schmidt, chief of the Butler Township Volunteer Fire Department, both the Pennsylvania fire marshal and Butler Township Police are leading the investigation into the cause of the fire.
The house was located behind another home on Whitestown Road. According to the Callens, the same family occupied both houses, but recently left.
“They all kind of lived together, but none of them are there anymore,” said Jill Callen. “They moved out probably last year, just after Christmas after a storm knocked a tree on their house and it was not fixable. One of their kids went to school with our kids. There’s been nobody in that house for over a year.”
Schmidt and other eyewitnesses said that this is not the first time this year that the abandoned home has caught fire. According to Schmidt, the BTVFD responded to a fire at the property back in March.
“I think two months ago, there was a smaller fire that they put out quickly,” Terry Callen said.
In addition to Butler Township’s fire and police departments, the City of Butler Bureau of Fire, VA Butler Fire & Emergency Services, state police and Butler Ambulance Service all responded to the scene.
A news release is expected from the Butler Township Police Department.
