STONEBORO, PA. Gasoline in heater sparks fire

STONEBORO, Pa. -- Someone accidentally filled a kerosene heater with gasoline, sparking a fire that destroyed an Amish family's home at 81 Stock Farm Road in Lake Township.
Fire Chief Rick Reither said the blaze broke out shortly before noon Thursday, but the fire was burning so strongly that the two-story frame house collapsed about two minutes after the first fire crews arrived.
The house was owned by John Troyer. Reither said he didn't know how many people were home when the fire started.
He said someone in the home inadvertently filled a kerosene heater with gasoline. The heater ran normally for about two hours but then suddenly exploded, spraying flammable liquid all over the house, he said.
That, combined with the fact that the family had no telephone and had to travel some distance to call for help, resulted in the house's being a total loss, Reither said.
There were no injuries.
Crews from Sandy Lake, Jackson Center, Fredonia and Mercer assisted at the scene.
Reither said the house was the scene of a chimney fire about two years ago. Firefighters were able to extinguish that blaze and save the house, he said.