Overnight Scranton Fire Forces 19 Out of Homes

Scranton, Lackawanna County-- Fire forced nearly 20 people out of their homes overnight in Scranton.

That fire sparked up just after 11 Tuesday night in the 600 block of Langstaff Place.

It's right by Weston Field along Providence Road.

Three buildings sustained severe damage-- a fourth was saved.

Two Scranton firetrucks were already out responding to a couple reports of dumpster fires at the time, when they were called to the house fire.

They arrived within minutes to a blazing inferno spreading to three separate structures.

Flames shot from the three buildings as smoke billowed into the air.

C.J. Borgia, who lives just down the street, recalled, "There were a lot of firefighters over there. They were on the ladder trucks trying to spray it down. They couldn't really get it under control for a little bit."

Dozens of Scranton firefighters battled the blaze, with a helpful mutual-aid assist from Dunmore.

Dunmore Assistant Fire Chief Robert Dee explained, "It's a lot more frequent with both us and them since we're both working short."

Jimmy Long, of Scranton, said, "I feel sorry for the people, because that's a hardship for everybody, you know? And when you hear somebody dying or anything like that, I don't like it."

Thankfully, in this case, no one was seriously hurt.

19 people got out safely-- including several residents of a group home for people with special needs.

We're told one pregnant woman was taken to a hospital to be checked out-- and later released.

And a firefighter from Dunmore who suffered chest pains was in stable condition as of Wednesday morning.

Neighbor Tim Billeck rushed home from work to check on his brother and his dog.

He was thankful they were safe, and that his home was unscathed.

Billeck noted, "I just put my income tax into my mortgage. And I was like, 'Oh, no.'"

And although some laid-off Scranton firefighters have recently returned to duty-- the questions among residents here continue.

Robert Pond lamented, "You have a mayor, like I said, who wants to shut down firehouses, and now you've got more buildings going up in flames. We need our firefighters."

Billeck added, "I'm not saying that we wouldn't have had this problem. But who's to say?"

Once the fire inspector has determined the cause of this blaze, it's expected that at least two-- if not all three- of the damaged buildings will be demolished.