Family escapes fire in Mt. Pleasant Township, home a total loss

High winds fueled a fire early Thursday that leveled a Mt. Pleasant Township house owned by an area dentist, firefighters said.

“The call came in as a deck fire, but when we got here it had already gotten into the walls and up to the roof. The wind was blowing right off the golf course fueling the fire,” Norvelt First Assistant Chief Vince Ungvarsky said.

The home on Kecksburg Road, owned by Mt. Pleasant area dentist Paul Kraisinger, is a total loss, firefighters said.

“It was insured. He already told us he plans to rebuild,” Ungvarsky said.

A damage estimate was not available.

The fire was reported at 12:56 a.m., firefighters said. Although the fire hall is located only about a mile away from the home, firefighters reported the blaze was already coming out of the roof as they arrived at the scene.

Firemen reported a fire pit on the back deck that was being used by the family earlier in the evening is believed to have been the cause.

Ungvarsky said, when firefighters from several departments throughout the county tried to connect to nearby hydrants, “there was no water pressure.”

He said a Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County crew was called, but could not correct the low water pressure problem.

“We ended up using tanker trucks from three counties … Westmoreland, Fayette and Somerset counties,” Ungvarsky said.

Firefighters were still on the scene at 9 a.m. Thursday.

“At one point, the second floor collapsed down to the first floor and into the basement,” Ungvarsky said.

Ungvarsky said Kraisinger and a son were asleep at the time of the fire but escaped unharmed. No firefighters were injured.

Authority spokesman Matt Junker said there are two hydrants located near the home. Both were serviced by the authority on April 7 and 8 and reported in working order, he said.

“It’s still being looked into at this point. Until we speak with fire officials or the (township’s) emergency management coordinator to obtain the exact details of what occurred with those hydrants when they hooked the lines in, we really don’t know enough to comment on what occurred there at this time,” Junker said.