MANHATTAN — Saturday night, a home in Manhattan caught fire. Sunday morning, I headed to the scene and spoke to neighbors who witnessed this fire firsthand.
“A blaze. It was an infernal blaze,” says Rose Sumner. “I was in a t-shirt and I was warm. I was standing hundreds of feet away,” followed her husband, Dale.
Dale and Rose Sumner live right behind the home that caught fire Saturday night.
“I looked out my kitchen window which faces directly toward this house, and it was a blaze. And I screamed, ‘Fire! Fire!’” says Rose.
The time, around 5 p.m. Rose and Dale ran outside as Rose called 911 and Dale recorded shocking video on his phone.
“Very scary. Electrical lines disconnected from the house and hit the ground, and it was sparking,” says Dale.
The home is located off 6th Street in Manhattan, right in between the Manhattan Police Department and Manhattan Fire Department.
“We were here fast. The house was fully engulfed when we got here,” says Manhattan Fire Chief Mike Ulmen.
I met up with Ulmen in front of what remains of the home. The smell of ash and smoke still filled the air.
“Yeah, so right here. This is where it started,” says Ulmen as he showed me the damage.
He told me about the firefighters' eight-hour battle with this fire.
“It was a difficult one. It got up into the attic and above the ceiling and the peak of the roof. So, it was a lot of work," Ulmen says.
With help from Three Forks and Amsterdam fire departments, the blaze was put out around 1 a.m. Sunday morning. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but there has been some speculation.
“Some folks heard some explosions, they said. Our local PD? He heard something. He was actually here first because he was on patrol, he was right around here when it happened. And he heard some things too. And we’re investigating what that was,” says Ulmen.
Ulmen tells me the family in the home were all able to get out safely. A neighbor across the street is housing them for the night. Eyewitnesses also claim the family's 2 dogs and cat were rescued by brave passersby while the house was still engulfed in flames.
With no injuries and minimal damage to surrounding homes, there's one word Ulmen was feeling this morning: “Proud. I mean, the main thing we’re thankful for, everyone is safe. Especially the homeowners. The firefighters. There were no injuries. So were thankful for that, and it went smoothly."
But for the Sumners, who feel for the family who lost their home just 3 days after Christmas—the words that come to their mind?
“It’s just a tragedy. Our hearts go out to them” say Rose and Dale Sumner.
