Fire outside Vandergrift house causes little damage but clogs afternoon traffic

Something smoldering against the outside a cellar door at a recently vacant house shut down busy Custer Avenue in Vandergrift for more than an hour Wednesday afternoon.

Vandergrift Volunteer Fire Company Chief Randy Dunmire said Vandergrift police, who were first on the scene, had to force the door open to investigate.

Dunmire said there was no fire, but something, most likely smoking materials, smoldered.

Both Vandergrift fire companies and medics responded shortly before 5 p.m.

Dunmire said the house was recently sold and the previous owners moved out last week. The new owner, who was not there Wednesday, had yet to move in.

Neighbor Maryann Gilliam said she was in her house when police instructed her to evacuate.

“We just had two other fires on this street back on June 22,” Gilliam said. “I got my animals and got out and saw the smoke then.”

The two-story, wood-frame houses along Custer Avenue are mere feet apart. Dunmire said both of the earlier fires were caused by faulty wiring.

Dunmire said the smoke was extinguished without any inside damage to the home, with external damage limited to a cellar door.