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12 displaced, 2 cats dead after blaze

PHILIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette City firefighter Sherman Heaster, right, quickly changes city firefighter Greg Delany’s airpack during the blaze on Mosser Avenue. Volunteer firefighters from several surrounding communities also responded to the fire.

As many as 12 people were left homeless late Sunday afternoon following a three-alarm row house fire that heavily damaged two homes and caused smoke damage to two others in the 2100 block of Mosser Avenue, city fire officials said.

No one was home at 2169 Mosser Ave. when heavy smoke was reported pouring from that house about 5:30 p.m. A mother and seven children reportedly lived in the house, fire officials said.

Fire extended into the home at 2167 Mosser Ave. Smoke penetrated through the walls to two other units — 2165 and 2163.

No one was injured, but two cats perished, including a 17-year-old male feline named Diablo that

was owned by Michael and Bonnie Lunkwitz, who lived in the 2163 property.

The couple was watching a movie when they heard a constant beeping coming though the walls.

“We weren’t sure at first what it was and then we realized it was smoke alarms,” said Bonnie Lunkwitz, who was raised in the house and has lived there since the early 1960s.

“They had a fire in that end unit last week, and they never notified us,” the woman said as she watched firefighters battle the fire.

“This is where I lived. I’m lost, and my cat is dead,” she said.

She and her husband own their home. Bonnie Lunkwitz said the tenant in 2167 told her she smelled smoke coming through her walls several days ago.

Lunkwitz said all four homes have two bedrooms each, and that both 2165 and 2167 are owned by Mark Sauers, of South Williamsport. Fire officials said both units were rented to single occupants.

One of the homes, 2167, was rented by Michelle Gorsline, Bonnie Lunkwitz said. The identities of the others displaced by the fire were not known Sunday.

Seeing smoke pouring from the 2169 house, Michael Lunkwitz grabbed a fire extinguisher from his home as did a neighbor from across the street.

“They tried to get in there, but they couldn’t get the fire out. The fire was in the walls,” Bonnie Lunkwitz said, adding that her husband and the neighbor entered Gorsline’s home with fire extinguishers.

“Black smoke was really pouring out everywhere. We had both our doors open. I’m sure there is major smoke damage in our place,” Bonnie Lunkwitz said.

Assistant Fire Chief Mark Killian said there was “fire throughout the first floor at 2169” when firefighters arrived on the scene. Flames spread to the second floor at 2167, he said.

A thick column of black smoke was visible for several blocks.

Firefighters donned self-contained breathing apparatus and carried hoses into the burning building. The bulk of the fire was knocked down in about 30 minutes.

Volunteer firefighters from Old Lycoming Township, DuBoistown, South Williamsport and Montousville responded on additional alarms that were ordered.

“We ordered a third alarm because we needed the manpower. It was very warm and humid,” Killian said.

The cause of the fire was under investigation, he said. Part of the investigation also included checking on the claims made by some of the tenants that there had been a fire at 2169 Mosser Ave. last week.

“We were not dispatched to a fire here last week,” Killian told a newspaper reporter at the scene.

The local chapter of the American Red Cross was providing emergency assistance to the tenants.

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