Blaze leaves woman homeless

BY JULIE BENAMATI
The Tribune-Democrat

FLINTON September 16, 2008 09:42 pm

— A northern Cambria County woman was left homeless after her two-story frame home was gutted by fire early Tuesday.
Volunteers from Patton Fire Company responded to the fire on the 2600 block of Saint Lawrence Road in Chest Township outside the village of Saint Lawrence at 7:36 a.m.
The home, owned by Kathryn G. McKusker, was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.
Crews from Coalport, Irvona, Hastings, Ashville and Hope fire companies assisted at the scene, Patton fire Chief Andy Semelsberger said. Carrolltown fire company was on standby for Patton.
Semelsberger said the owner maintains a business, K & J Financial & Tax Service, in a separate structure on the property.
He said McKusker was inside the business when the fire started.
“(McKusker) has a business right next to her house, and she came out and saw the fire,” Semelsberger said.
The cause of the blaze was electrical, he said.
“The inside is gutted,” Semelsberger said. “The outside can be repaired, but the inside will take a lot of work if it is to be lived in again.”
He said the structure was insured.