I'm Back.. and we have had a busy week.

SUN VALLEY — Fire marshals are investigating the cause of a fire that brought a home being constructed in Chestnuthill Township down to its foundations late Monday night.
The house was completely engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived on the scene at 1109 Fir Road around 9 p.m.
"There were big booms, it sounded like gas cans exploded," said Terry Frey, who lives across the street from the house and watched the fire. "It was completely in flames, the whole house from end to end."
Assistant Chief John McKeever of the West End Fire Co. said it took firefighters about 15 minutes to knock down the structure and then a short while longer before the flames could be extinguished.
The house was uninhabited at the time and no injuries were reported.McKeever said fire marshals had been called and the cause would be under investigation



Drunk pedestrian hit by vehicle on Toll Road in Chestnuthill Township

'August 29, 2007'
August 29, 2007
CHESTNUTHILL TOWNSHIP — A drunk pedestrian was taken to the hospital Monday night after being hit by a vehicle on Toll Road, north of Lakeside Drive, state police at Fern Ridge said.
At 11:06 p.m., Anthony Scott Donahue, 36, of Effort, and another pedestrian, both of whom were drinking alcoholic beverages, were talking to a PPL driver who had just finished servicing a transformer near where a fire had just occurred, police said.
Donahue and the two others were standing in the road on the driver's side of the PPL truck, which was facing south in the southbound lane with its headlights on.A northbound 2003 Kia Sedona, driven by Stanley Long III, 31, of Kunkletown, slowed down upon approaching the truck due to Long being unable to see because of the truck's headlights. At that point, Donahue stepped out into the northbound lane and was hit by Long.


CHESTNUTHILL TOWNSHIP — Maritza Curtis awoke from a nap at about 11 a.m. Wednesday in her Cedar Lane home in Sherwood Forest and smelled smoke.
Curtis was wondering where the smell was coming from when her daughter Tatiana, 6, came and told her, "Mommy, there's something orange coming out of the room."
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Tatiana was referring to flames coming from one of the two bedrooms occupied by her and her brothers Christopher, 10, and Xavier, 4.
"I saw the fire and told the kids to get out of the house," Curtis said later, sitting in tears on her neighbor's porch as firefighters trained hoses on the bi-level house she and her family had been renting. "I grabbed the fire extinguisher, but I couldn't maneuver it. So, I left it and called 911 and went to make sure the kids were all out safe."
The fire spread to the attic before firefighters arrived and were able to keep the entire house from burning to the ground.

Curtis' tears were a mix of loss over the house and gratitude that she, her children and their 3-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Dash, escaped unharmed.
"The important thing is you're all OK," neighbor Grigore Rodica told Curtis in a soothing tone with a comforting arm around her. "Property can be replaced. Lives can't."
Rodica was next door, having coffee with her visiting cousin, Julia Minga, when both women heard Curtis screaming.
"We ran next door and saw flames coming through the (bedroom) windows," Rodica said. "Everyone was out of the house. (Curtis) just kept screaming. She didn't know what to do."
Neighbor Dennis Rosadio, who lives across the street, heard the screaming, saw the fire, rushed over with his own fire extinguisher and went into the house as the flames continued to spread.

"I went to the room where the fire was and saw the flames on the floor and the curtains," Rosadio said. "I hit it with the extinguisher, but the room got so smoky I just crouched down and got back out of there."
West End, Jackson Township, Sun Valley and Polk Township firefighters, West End Ambulance and state police were on scene.
"Once we got here, we went inside and began an aggressive attack," West End Fire Chief Brian Snyder said shortly before noon, by which time the fire had been brought under control. "Right now, it's too early to tell how this got started."
Alfredo Curtis later arrived on scene from his job in Lehigh County and hugged his wife and children upon seeing them all safe at the neighbor's. Maritza Curtis has a cousin living in Effort and the Red Cross has been contacted.
The Curtis family moved from Brooklyn, N.Y., to the Poconos and began renting the house in December. At the time of the fire, the family was trying to reach the owner in Queens, N.Y.





And thanks to the hail storm that blew through the other day I missed all of this because I was to busy with work.. oh well.

Thanks to the Poconorecord.com for the articles and photos.