MILLVALE, Pa. — Millvale Borough is helping a family who lost everything in a fire.
Police say a father and his two teenagers survived, but now they face the difficult process of rebuilding.
Stacks of school supplies, toothpaste and other necessities are piling up at the Millvale Borough Police Department to help them.
Officers set up a donation site for the family who lost their home in a fire Monday morning. They say no donation is too big or too small.
“The Red Cross was able to get them some temporary housing. I do believe they were able to stay with family, but as I said, they’ve lost everything,” Millvale Fire Chief Jim Tunstall said. “The working smoke detector is what woke the father up.”
He says firefighters responded to reports of an oven fire at the home on Siegel Street.
New video from the fire chief shows heavy smoke and flames coming from the building.
Channel 11 was also at the scene when the chief said the fire had spread to the attic.
“The roof was soft. The stairs were compromised to the attic. So we had to find other ways around that by cutting holes into the roof and then eventually breaching and getting into that attic space,” Tunstall said.
As of tonight, one of the family’s three cats is still missing.
The fire marshal is investigating the official cause of the fire.
Millvale police are still taking donations. The full list is as follows:
Items currently needed include:
- Toiletries and personal care items
- 17-year-old girl: Women’s clothing – Medium | Shoes – Size 6
- 16-year-old boy: Clothing – Large/XL | Shoes – approximately Size 10–12
- Dad: Clothing – Large | Shoes – Size 11
- Cat food
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