Nobody was injured when fire destroyed a home at 20 Valleybrook
Drive Saturday morning.
According to Bradford City firefighters, at 6:43 a.m., there was
a report of a structure fire at 285 Bolivar Drive. City
firefighters were initially called in as mutual aid for the Derrick
City Volunteer Fire Department, but responders determined the fire
was actually located on Valleybrook Drive in a homeðowned by Tom
and Jane Bowes.
By that time, a city firefighter said, “the fire was through the
roof” of the house.
Fire officials said the first water hydrant firefighters tried
to use was defective, adding tank water was used to fight the blaze
until a second hydrant was tapped.
Kim Benjamin, executive director of the Bradford City Water
Authority, said Sunday there are two hydrants in the area of the
home, noting when authority personnel checked the hydrants they
weren’t frozen. He said the hydrants were operational when they
checked them, but understood one of the hydrants was difficult to
operate.
Benjamin said the authority checks and maintains hydrants on a
routine basis, “almost daily,” during the winter, adding the
authority often finds hydrants to be frozen during the checks.
However, officials said the fire was already fully involved when
responders arrived and swept through the building quickly, aided by
high winds.
Officials said the house was a total loss.
“It was really going,” a firefighter said. “With the wind
howling, it was gone before you knew it.”
A Pennsylvania State Police fire marshal is investigating the
fire, which as of Sunday night was still undetermined.
Officials said the estimated cost of the house is between
$150,000 and $200,000, not including its contents.
The Bowes were not home at the time of the fire, officials
said.
A total of 14 firefighters from the city and another six to 12
firefighters from Derrick City responded to the scene, where they
stayed about three hours. There were two engines pumping at the
fire, but at least five were on scene.
At least one neighbor brought hot coffee out to the responders,
the firefighter said, adding the cold weather -ðwhich was in the
single digits at the time of the blaze – often makes it hard to
move quickly and maneuver in firefighting gear.
