A Unity man who smelled smoke on the first floor of his home Thursday got out before it was gutted by fire just after 4 p.m., a fire official said.
Leonard Mahoney saw a glass door to an addition in the front of the two-story house at 3392 Route 982 was blackened and realized the front of the house was on fire, said Pleasant Unity fire Chief John Bacha.
Mahoney had come home at 4:10 p.m and was alone in the house near Lycippus, minutes before his children were to get off the school bus, Bacha said.
Multiple Unity fire departments responded, but the front addition on the house was fully involved and flames were shooting out of one window. Firefighters laid hoses from nearby hydrants to fight the flames.
“It was a fairly quick knockdown,” Bacha said.
Neighbor Richard Miller said he looked out from his house and saw “flames shooting out of the windows in the front” of Mahoney's house.
“It's just unreal,” he said.
Two cats and a dog were killed in the fire and another pet was missing, Bacha said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation by a state police fire marshal.
Paul Peirce and Joe Napsha are Tribune-Review staff writers. Reach Peirce at 724-850-2860, ppeirce@tribweb.com or via Twitter @ppeirce_trib. Reach Napsha at 724-836-5252 or jnapsha@tribweb.com.
