Fire guts North Huntingdon house

A house in North Huntingdon’s Shafton neighborhood was gutted by fire early Tuesday night when a blaze broke out on the back porch, a fire official said.

The back porch of the house on Broadway Avenue was engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived, said Shafton Fire Chief Ken Fennell.

No injuries were reported in the fire, which was reported at 6:55 p.m., according to the Westmoreland County Department of Public Safety.

Sheree Coreg said she was sitting on the front porch of her house at 9965 Broadway Ave. when she smelled smoke. She said she went inside to find the back porch on fire. She grabbed her two dogs and fled the house.

Her husband, Julian, said he was at work at a North Huntingdon supermarket when he was called with the news his house was on fire.

A neighbor, Peggy Wingrow, said she saw Sheree Coreg escape safely from the fire.

Wingrow said she went to the house as Coreg was leaving and then grabbed a garden hose and tried to extinguish the fire on the back porch.

“She tried to go back in for something, and I told her no, you can’t (go back),” Wingrow said.

North Huntingdon police Officer Scott Urias, a township fire marshal, said the cause is under investigation.

Urias attempted to battle the blaze with a garden house, but to little avail as the wooden porch went up in flames.

Firefighters from Shafton were assisted by units from Westmoreland City, Irwin and North Irwin.

Fire company officials were still at the scene as of 8:30 p.m.