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2 blazes keep firefighters busy Monday afternoon; 4 homeless

PHILIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette Flames rip through a collapsed storage trailer, one of two vacant structures that were leveled by a fire that broke out on Tallman Hollow Road about 5 miles from Montoursville at 3:30 p.m. Monday.

A South Williamsport family of four safely escaped their burning home in one of two major fires that broke out Monday afternoon in the region within a 15-minute period.

A bedroom fire at 315 Tallman Ave., just off of Route 15, broke out about 3:15 p.m. Everyone already was out of the house when borough police arrived.

Within minutes, more than a half a dozen firefighters and two fire trucks were on the scene battling flames that were shooting from a bedroom window on the south side of the one-story home.

After donning self-contained breathing apparatus, firefighters advanced hoses through the front door.

The name of the family displaced by the fire was expected to be released later this week, borough Deputy Fire Chief John West said, adding that investigators still needed to talk with them.

The fire was contained to the bedroom, but much of the home sustained serious heat and smoke damage, West said.

The bulk of the fire was knocked down within 15 minutes. Firefighters from Loyalsock Township, DuBoistown and Nisbet assisted at the scene. Woodward Township firefighters stood by at the nearby firehouse on Hastings Street, ready to handle any other emergency calls in the fire district.

A state police fire marshal is expected to visit the scene later today and try to determine the cause of fire.

Just 15 minutes after that fire, another blaze broke out, this one at the Maggs brothers property at 963 Tallman Hollow Road, about 5 miles north of Montoursville, in Upper Fairfield Township.

Montoursville Fire Chief Scott Konkle said two structures, a large storage trailer and an outbuilding, were consumed by flames from a fire that apparently was sparked by an unsupervised control burn.

A man attempted to set fire to a pile of old pallets about 1:30 p.m., but he soon left after he was unsuccessful in getting the fire started, Konkle said. However, as the pallets smoldered, flames erupted, igniting brush and debris before spreading to the two buildings about 3:30 p.m.

Konkle said he could see a column of heavy black smoke as he headed for the fire from the borough. “The initial report was an investigation of smoke of unknown origin,” he said.

The blaze presented unique challenges for firefighters because there was no easy access to the fire, just a very steep dirt path, Konkle said. Water supply was not a problem because there was a pond right on the property, he added.

Extra brush trucks were dispatched to the scene to douse spotty brush fires near the buildings.

There were no reports of injuries, but one fireman was treated at the scene for exhaustion, Konkle said.

The buildings were vacant, and there was no insurance on the property, Konkle said.

Firefighters from Montoursville and numerous surrounding communities worked together to put out the fire.

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