Nine Displaced, Two Firefighters Hurt in Lebanon (PA) Fire

A two-alarm fire that officials termed “challenging” forced nine people from their homes and left two firefighters injured on a frigid, blustery Saturday on a snow-choked street in Lebanon, reports the Lebanon Daily News.

City firefighters were dispatched to a home at 25 Guilford St. at 2:41 p.m. When they arrived, they found smoke and flames pouring out of the home and the fire spreading to neighboring 23 Guilford St. and adjoining 27 Guilford St. None of the occupants of the three homes was injured.

“It was well-advanced,” Lebanon Fire Commissioner Duane Trautman said.

The fire started on the first floor of 25 Guilford St., he said, setting a preliminary damage estimate of $225,000. A cause was not determined, and fire officials expected to continue their investigation Sunday.

As firefighters battled the flames, the floor collapsed in a second-story room of 25 Guilford St. Two firefighters from Myerstown’s Keystone Hook & Ladder Fire Co. inside the room fell to the first floor, Trautman said. One was treated for a leg injury at the scene, and the other was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital for treatment of breathing problems.

After the collapse, the fire commissioner ordered all firefighters out of the three homes, and a city fire truck sounded its siren to alert firefighters.

Read more of the story here http://bit.ly/Mo1XDZ