Raw video: Three-alarm fire in Pottsville, Pennsylvania burns five rowhomes. One firefighter hurt.

This fire was reported at 3:18 Thursday morning in the 400 block of Fairview Avenue in Pottsville, Pennsylvania (Schuylkill County). It left 17 people homeless in this row of eight homes.  Pottsville Fire Chief Todd March said the fire started in the kitchen of 429 where a woman was home alone. Chief March told a reporter, “This thing was rolling”.

Firefighters say they were hampered by the location. It is a one-way, one-lane street on a hill. It was also a cold morning and ice was an issue for firefighters. FirefighterCloseCalls.com previously reported the injury to one firefighter who slipped and was hit in the face by the inch-and-a-half he was using.

You will find a detailed account of the fire and still pictures from Coal Region Fire here (the video is also from Coal Region Fire).

Here’s more from Stephen Pytak at RepublicanHerald.com:

“She went upstairs to grab an extinguisher. By the time she came down the whole kitchen was on fire. It just took off. She tried to put it out and got a slight burn on her hand,” March said.

Responders included all city fire companies and firefighters from Schuylkill Haven, Minersville, Port Carbon, Mar Lin, Saint Clair, Tamaqua, Frackville and West Mahanoy Township and Pottsville EMS.

“We weren’t here five minutes when all of a sudden power lines started snapping and breaking and coming down live, jumping and sparking all over the street. So firefighters had to cope with that,” March said.

“We had nowhere to go with the trucks. We couldn’t get anybody in here. And we needed the manpower. Our guys needed relief. The weather was against us,” March said.

The fire was under control by 5 a.m. “It was out of control for an hour and a half. We thought we were going to leave every house on the row. We saved three of them. The other five are bad,” March said.