PHILIP A. HOLMES/Sun-Gazette Smoke from this two-alarm house fire on Freedom Road late Sunday afternoon could be seen more than a mile away.

A Loyalsock Township man was left homeless late Sunday afternoon when a two-alarm blaze erupted in his house in the 900 block of Freedom Road, according to township fire officials.

Adrian Brown, the owner and sole occupant of the home, was outside feeding his horse and saw smoke pouring from the house at 995 Freedom Road about 5:20 p.m., according to Paul Lester, an assistant township fire chief. Brown went into the house, but was already back outside when firefighters began arriving on the scene.

No one was reported injured in the fire that took about 90 minutes to bring under control. However, Brown’s cat perished in the fire and the whereabouts of his husky were unknown, township Fire Chief Shawn Bastian said Monday. “We believe the dog may have escaped,” Lester said. Investigators suspect Brown had gone into the house in an attempt to get his pets.

Firefighters en route to the fire could see a column of heavy smoke in the sky from Grampian Boulevard, more than a mile from the scene. Freedom Road runs east off of Bloomingrove Road.

Besides dealing with thick, dense smoke pouring from the house, firefighters also had to contend with the hazard of overhead powerlines that were burning off.

Besides the township, firefighters from the city, Hepburn Township, South Williamsport, Old Lycoming Township and Montoursville all responded on the initial alarm.

It was just a matter of minutes before a second alarm was ordered by Lester, one of the first to arrive on the scene.

This brought additional manpower and equipment from DuBoistown, Trout Run, Eldred Township and Woodward Township. Temperatures hovered in the low teens at the time of the blaze.

A state police fire marshal, Cpl. Nathan Brown, assigned to the Montoursville barracks, is assisting with the investigation into the origin and cause of the fire, both of which remain undetermined at this point.

This was the second day in a row that firefighters in the region battled a house fire that left a man homeless. Another state police fire marshal, this one from the Milton barracks, is looking into the cause of a blaze on Whitmoyer Road, west of Turbotville in Northumberland County, that broke out about 7 a.m. Saturday.

Concerning another investigation, South Williamsport Fire Chief Jeff Trammell said Monday no origin or cause has yet been determined for the fire that destroyed John and Carol Butler’s home at 2310 Bedaro Drive in the borough on Jan. 27 and sent the two to the Lehigh Valley Hospital burn unit with serious injuries.

In an online post, a family member said John Butler was “rapidly gaining energy” and was expected to be discharged from the hospital this week while his wife’s condition was listed as “stable.” She was supposed to undergo skin-graph surgery on Tuesday. “We are so grateful” for those who “have made us meals, watched our kids” and all the donations of money, food and gift cards that have been sent “to the hospital staff,” the family posted. Both John and Carol Butler are pastors at the Wings of Love Community Church in the borough.

Muncy Area Fire Chief Scott Delany said Monday night that the cause of the Jan. 29 blaze that destroyed two neighboring garages and damaged two others at Main and Market streets in Muncy remained under investigation. Four of nine vehicles, all of which were outside the garages, were destroyed by the fire while the remaining five sustained minor damage, Delany said.

DuBoistown Fire Chief Paul McKinley said Monday night that the cause of the blaze that wiped out the Culberson Construction building at 6 S. Arch St. in the borough during the early-morning hours of Jan. 30 will remain undetermined. “The fire marshall said there was just too much damage” that a cause could not be determined. Damage was in excess of $400,000, McKinley added.