URSINA — Bernard Scarlett and his wife were sleeping early Sunday when their fire alarm sounded.
Without that warning, one fire official believes, the two may have perished in a fire that quickly swept through their two-story frame house in southern Somerset County.
“Those two people, I believe, are alive as the result of working smoke detectors,” Confluence First Assistant Chief Ron Hostetler said Monday.
The Scarletts escaped uninjured, though they lost most of their belongings in the blaze.
While they are staying with relatives, a fund has been established for the couple at the Confluence branch of Somerset Trust Co., Hostetler said.
A state police fire marshal is being called in to investigate the cause of the blaze, which volunteers believe started near an electrical box in the basement.
A damage estimate was not immediately available Monday.
“We’re calling it a complete and total loss,” Hostetler said. “The structure is damaged beyond repair.”
Hostetler said Bernard Scarlett was awakened by the smoke detector about 6:20 a.m. Sunday. As the kitchen filled with smoke and flames began darting from the basement, Scarlett fled with his wife and called 911 from a neighbor’s house.
“If he wouldn’t have awakened when he did, I think things would have been bad,” Hostetler said.
No injuries were reported, although Hostetler said a group of firefighters briefly became trapped on the second floor.
The volunteers escaped by ladder through a second-floor window.
Confluence Volunteer Fire Company was assisted by departments from Addison, New Centerville and Rockwood, Markleysburg and Farmington in Fayette County and Friendsville in Garrett County, Maryland.
How to help
Donations marked “For the Scarletts” may be sent to:
Somerset Trust Co.
Confluence branch office
612 Logan Place
Confluence, Pa. 15424
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