By Chris Buckley

Published: Thursday, January 3, 2013, 12:01 a.m.
Updated: Thursday, January 3, 2013

Duane Law stood outside his 547 Fayette Ave. home watching firefighters extinguishing the remnants of the fire at his Rostraver Township residence.

He still had on his slippers, having earlier narrowly escaped a blaze that damaged a portion of his home.

Law said he and his wife, Jean, were talking in the bedroom around 6 p.m. Wednesday when they smelled smoke and traced it to the exhaust filter in the kitchen. The light was flickering.

“When I looked in there, the filter for the exhaust fan had melted already,” Law said.

Jean Law called 911 as the couple and their daughter, Melissa Bakosh, grabbed their cat and dog and got out of the house.

Duane Law said the insulation in the attic ignited. The Laws have lived at the residence for the past eight years.

Heather Sphar lives behind the Laws.

“We saw the flames shooting out the back vent so we came to see if everyone was OK,” Sphar said. “I brought them blankets and coats.”

Firefighters from North Belle Vernon, Sutersville and Rostraver Township battled the sub-freezing temperatures as well as the blaze. The fire was contained to the roof crawl space, although the house sustained water damage as well.

“I'm just glad everyone made it out safe,” Sphar said. “You can always redo a home, but you can't redo someone's life.”

Chris Buckley is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 724-684-2642 or cbuckley@tribweb.com.

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