A quick response from firefighters prevented a fire at a student rental in the downtown Indiana area from destroying the building this afternoon.
Indiana County 911 reported the fire at 2:49 this afternoon at 37 North 5th Street, which is a student rental owned by Dennis Brey, the former General Manager of the Indiana Giant Eagle. Indiana, Clymer and Homer City Fire Departments were called out, but Clymer and Homer City were recalled as soon as they arrived, as the fire was brought under control quickly.
Fire officials with the Indiana Fire Association say the cause of the fire was an outside ashtray catching fire, and going up the outside of the building. John Jones, an IUP student from Uniontown, lives in the rental and told us he was with his girlfriend in the apartment when the fire started, and his roommate notified him of the fire. The three got out of the apartment safely and tried to put the fire out themselves with buckets of water before calling the fire department. Jones said if it wasn’t for his roommate telling him that the apartment was on fire, it might have been much worse.
Damage was limited to the building’s exterior, and there were no reported injuries.
