Family displaced after fire destroys Beaver County home

FREEDOM, Pa. — Seven people were displaced after a fire destroyed their home on Fifth Avenue late Monday night.

“It was a very surreal moment,” said Nikki Cox, a next-door neighbor. “It was like a scene from a movie.”

The call was made to 911 that a fire started in an upstairs bedroom and spread into the attic and the first floor. Neighbors tell Channel 11 a family with five kids — some of them teenagers — were all able to get out of the home safely.

Cox was watching TV with her husband and daughter when police came pounding at the door to get them to evacuate their home.

“I exited the back door, me and my daughter, while my husband exited the front,” Cox said. “We smelled the smoke immediately. I didn’t know the severity until we came around here to exit with the officer, and then we saw the flames in the house beside us. It was very scary for us because we didn’t know if our house was going to be impacted by that as well.”

That was a big concern for Cox and her family. There is less than six feet between her house and the house that was on fire. As her family left their house, she grabbed her dog and some important documents just in case, before running out the door.

“Fire is like one of my worst fears, and I’m sure that could be said about a lot of people,” Cox said.

Neighbors tell Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek that the family who lives in the home just moved in sometime in the last few months. They are currently being helped by the Red Cross.

Havranek messaged the owner of the home on Facebook. She used to live in the home but now rents it to the family. She said she has not yet been told how the fire started.

Channel 11 called the fire department several times but hasn’t been able to reach anyone.

“My prayers go out to the family, and I pray that things go okay considering moving forward,” Cox said.

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