A smokey fire that was seemingly put out rekindled hours later and destroyed two homes early Saturday morning on Easton’s South Side.
Fred Diehl, 62, has owned 945 W. Lincoln St. for 42 years. He lives there with his wife Charlette and five grandchildren ages 17, 15, 13, 6 and 2.
One of the teenage boys, who lives on the third floor, heard a snapping sound late Friday night coming from the crawl space, went down the stairs and saw the fire, Diehl said.
City firefighters were dispatched at 11:35 p.m.
Everyone was able to get safely out of the home, as did the residents in the connected house at 943 W. Lincoln St., which is owned by Richard and Margaret Groff of Macungie, according to tax records.
Easton fire Feb. 18, 2017
As the night wore on and the fire was seemingly out, the Diehl family was able to go in and get belongings, Diehl said. Much of the damage was to the third floor and they left wet clothes in place, figuring they could get them later Saturday and wash them, he said.
But about 5 a.m., a neighbor called Diehl, who had moved the family to his son’s home in West Easton.
The house was burning again.
And this time it was much worse.
“We thought we had the fire extinguished,” city fire department Deputy Chief Kevin Arnold said. “A few of us were inside doing some overhaul and we didn’t see the other kinda hot spots. Unfortunately they must have been in the walls and they got reignited.”
The Diehls had been in and out of the home several times by that point; each time they came out, they realized they needed something else, Diehl said.
There was “just water damage” mostly in the house after the first round of fire, Diehl said.
“We were looking at all the rooms finding out how bad it was,” he said. “… It was repairable. Just a matter of some sheet rock, floors, nothing like this,” he added as he watched from his neighbor’s porch as flames tore through the roof and windows in the second fire.
They left about 3:30 a.m. or 3:45, he said.
“They said it was over,” neighbor Mike Haring, 59, said as he watched from the graveyard on the other side of West Lincoln Street. “… There were very little flames the first time. It’s worse now.”
Diehl about 5:30 a.m. said he hadn’t yet told his wife that the fire rekindled. She was sleeping when he left.
“They don’t know there’s this much damage,” he said. “It’s done now.”
Dave Warner, 51, who lives on McKeen Street, went to sleep figuring the fire at the home next door at the corner was out.
“Last night it was just smoke,” he said. Hours later “my wife shook me and said ‘It’s burning again.’ I looked out the window” and saw the flames. He held up his cellphone to show a video he shot.
“The whole duplex is done.”
The renewed fire was reported at 4:47 a.m., a Northampton County emergency dispatch supervisor said.
None of the residents was hurt. A firefighter turned an ankle in icy conditions, Arnold said.
Much of the roof was gone as firefighters just after 6 a.m. went into the homes. Up to that point, they had been battling the blaze above and below from the outside. Stubborn flames flared up and were quickly doused at that hour.
The investigation into the cause of the fire will get underway, Arnold said, but Diehl figured it was electrical. He said he had insurance.
Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
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