A smoke detector helped avert tragedy early Tuesday morning when a three-alarm fire ripped through four adjoining townhouses on Oakmont Drive in Loyalsock Township's Northwood Estates development. No one was injured, and a damage estimate has been set at $750,000.
One of three tenants displaced by the fire was awakened just before 2 a.m. by a smoke alarm and quickly fled her unit, alerting the tenants in the adjoining townhouses, according to investigators.
"I lost everything. If you're looking for a report, I'm not up to it," the woman said hours after the fire, declining to give her name.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation. Oakmont Drive is east of Bloomingrove Road, off of Northwood Road, just north of the township-city line.
"The front of the structure was fully involved (with fire) when I got here," Tim Boush, an assistant township fire chief, said as he stood in front of the building.
The row of townhouses, about 70-feet wide and 100-feet long, were the first structures built in the development, believed to be sometime in the late 1980s. Each unit was individually owned and insured, investigators said.
"I could see a glow coming up Market Street. Williamsport police were the first on the scene, and they were making sure everyone was out" of the building, which involved addresses 1600-1602-1604-1606 Oakmont Drive, Boush said.
"A lot of the structure was already burned away when we got here," he said.
"Initially, there was a concern that one person was unaccounted for, but we were able to locate her," Boush said, adding that the woman soon was located.
Two women and a man were left homeless by the blaze, he said. Investigators did not disclose the identities of any of those involved, and Cpl. Nichols A. Loffredo, a state police fire marshal at the scene, also did not have their names.
However, one of the units was vacant and owned by a Hackettstown, N.J., woman, Marie Palotas, who called the Sun-Gazette late Tuesday afternoon.
She identified the displaced residents as Donald Cortese, Dawn Hay and Helen Shaffer.
"Their phones lines must have burned in the fire because I tried to call them and couldn't get through," Palotas said.
Palotas purchased her townhouse in 2003. She lived there for about seven years, moving out of it this past February to be closer to family in New Jersey, she said.
Palotas, who is afflicted with multiple sclerosis, said the disease that hampers her walking ability could have proved detrimental to her safety had she still lived at the townhouse.
"If I was upstairs sleeping, I would probably have not made it out," she said. "I'm grateful to be where I am and I said a brief prayer of thanks that I am where I am."
Palotas said insurance will cover the losses on her townhouse, which contained no personal belongings.
Although she said it's unfortunate the residents are suffering from various inconveniences, Palotas said she's grateful no one was injured.
Josh Harding, of Conway, Ark., said he and his girlfriend, Sarah Deshazo, were about to move into Palotas' townhouse.
An employee for the National Oilwell Varco Co., Harding, who arrived on the scene about 10 a.m. Tuesday, said only the only personal damage they sustained was to Deshazo's 2010 Nissan Altima, which was in the garage.
"Most of the fire was confined to the front of the apartments," Boush said. Firefighters initially attacked the fire from the front, but they managed to get into the townhouses through the back, Boush said.
"For the most part, the structure is pretty much destroyed," he said. I believe everyone had some insurance," he added.
Loffredo estimated the loss to be at least $750,000.
More than 70 firefighters fought the blaze for at least 90 minutes before it was brought under control. Between 700 and 900 feet of hose was stretched from a hydrant on Heather Lane to the front of the fire.
"We had a lot of fire in the ceilings, a lot of hot spots," Boush said.
"A working smoke detector definitely played a role in saving a life here," he said.
"Unfortunately, a lot of homes don't have smoke alarms. However, in this case, a working smoke detector alerted one of the residents, who was able to alert everyone else," Boush said.
"A smoke alarm made a difference," Loffredo agreed.
The fire originated in or near the townhouse where the woman awakened by the smoke alarm lived, Loffredo said. "She saw fire below her, came downstairs and out through her garage," he said. "She lost everything, but her car, which was sitting outside at the time of the fire," he added.
All the displaced residents are staying with friends or relatives.
Sun-Gazette Reporter Patrick Donlin contributed to this story
