The Rob Shirley family of five will stay with relatives after an electrical fire damaged their house along Wright Road yesterday afternoon.
No one was hurt.
Firefighters from Kiski Township and three neighboring departments and Kiski Township police got the fire call at about 2 p.m. and arrived at 131 Wright Road to find a living room and another front room on fire.
Stubborn flames also attacked the front eves of the single-story house that is about a mile from a township fire station and a little more than two miles from Apollo.
In addition to damaging the two front two rooms, a newly-remodeled kitchen received smoke damage, said Kiski Township Fire Chief Richard Fraim.
"It's electrical and accidental," he said.
A damage estimate wasn't available.
Rob Shirley said he was working at Allegheny Ludlum when his wife, Jamey, called with the bad news.
"It almost knocked me off my feet," Shirley said.
Neighbor Melanie Jackson had just telephoned Jamey as she was returning from the bank, he said.
His wife told him by phone of Jackson's call: "She said smoke — lots of smoke."
The couple's three children, a 17-year-old son and daughters ages 14 and 10, were in class when they were told by school officials about the fire at their home of nine years.
Rob Shirley said the house was insured.
About 35 firefighters, from Kiski Township, North Apollo, Apollo and Oklahoma Borough fought the blaze on a cold, windy day. They were at the scene for 2 1/2 hours.
Two family dogs got out safely, and North Apollo firefighter Laura Peace reunited one of the cats with the family.
A second cat, missing for more than an hour, was found by firefighters safe under a bed in a rear bedroom.
