Prospect Street home catches fire
Robert Riggen started walking up the steps to the second floor of his family’s 19 Prospect St. home in Uniontown on Wednesday and smelled what he thought was paper burning. His brother Jim went to have a look, but turned around when he smelled the smoke.
He then told Robert and their mother, Doris, to get out of the house and called 911.
The city’s fire and police departments were dispatched to the fire around 4:50 p.m. and managed to quickly extinguish the blaze.
Fire Chief Myron Nypaver said the fire occurred in the attic and caused a lot of damage to the second floor of the two-story home.
He said the fire did not appear suspicious, but he planned to call the state police fire marshals to help determine the cause.
“There was no one upstairs. It had to be electrical,” Jim Riggen said, adding that there are no steps and no crawl space leading into the attic. “We were all downstairs. We don’t know.”
“I’m glad it wasn’t in the middle of the night. We’d have all been sleeping,” Doris Riggen said.
She said she has insurance for the house. She and Robert have lived there since 1982. Jim said he was visiting when the fire started.