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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; Cesar Abreu went to investigate when his fiance, Lil, smelled smoke in their residence on Auburn Street on Friday.</p><p>He looked out an upstairs window facing a neighboring house.</p><p>&#8220;I looked outside the window, and all I saw was flames,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I couldn&#8217;t even see the white house, there was too much fire in the window.&#8221;</p><p>Crews were dispatched to Auburn Street at 12:37 p.m. Friday for the residential structure fire. City Fire Chief Jay Delaney said firefighters saw heavy smoke coming from residence while they were in the first block of North Main Street, and the response was upgraded to second alarm and ultimately to a third alarm.</p><p>Crews arrived to find one house on fire, with a second house beginning to catch fire. The houses are very close together. </p><p>Firefighters doused both residences with water from tanker and ladder trucks. Smoke and heavy flames billowed from the residences and, eventually, both roofs collapsed.</p><p>George Iskra, 65, called 911 when he first noticed the fire while sitting on his porch.</p><p>Iskra said he saw smoke coming from 3 Auburn St., and initially thought it was someone using a grill.</p><p>&#8220;Then it got bad, so I ran up the hill &#8230; sure enough, the smoke and flames were coming out,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Iskra then went inside the residence and helped to evacuate children that were inside.</p><p>Among those inside was Omari Lashley.</p><p>Lashley, 18, said he was inside the home with several others when someone smelled smoke. They initially thought it was electrical, so they unplugged everything in an upstairs room and went on about their day.</p><p>Lashley said his friend Aneisha, who is pregnant, then said there was a fire in the house. Lashley got some water and went to open the basement door to investigate.</p><p>&#8220;The flames came out,&#8221; Lashley said. Everyone in the residence, along with six dogs, were able to escape.</p><p>Three cats were still unaccounted for, according to Lashley.</p><p>Abreu and his fiance were able to retrieve their three dogs before escaping, but added that his chinchilla and his daughter&#8217;s goldfish were still inside.</p><p>A firefighter later brought out a cage with his chinchilla alive and well<ins>, which drew looks of relief from Abreu and his fiance</ins>.</p><p>Abreu said he has relatives in the area that he can stay with.</p><p><strong>A challenge</strong></p><p>Along with fighting fires at two different buildings, firefighters encountered a number of challenges.</p><p>Delaney said an interior attack team quickly entered 1 Auburn St. to make sure no children were inside.</p><p>After that, firefighters withdrew from the residences due to the amount of fire damage.</p><p>Also, natural gas was feeding the fire, Delaney said.</p><p>&#8220;It took a long time for us to be able to get that gas shut down,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We couldn&#8217;t extinguish the fire &#8230; because of the natural gas still being on.&#8221;</p><p>Delaney explained that if the crews put the fires out, the residences could have filled with unlit natural gas, which could have resulted in an explosion.</p><p>The day&#8217;s heat, with a high of 89 degrees, also made it tough on firefighters, who Delaney said had to be rotated out so they could cool off. He added that 12 off-duty firefighters were called in to help fight the blaze.</p><p>Delaney said damage was extensive and a collapse zone was set up around the houses due to the roofs collapsing.</p><p><ins>&#8220;There were concerns about collapse, and we didn&#8217;t want to see any of our firefighters get hurt,&#8221; he said.</ins></p><p>The city&#8217;s fire inspector is investigating the cause and origin of the fire.</p><p><ins><strong>Check back at timesleader.com for updates.</strong></ins></p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Fire victims Cesar Abreu and his fiance, Lil, watch as firefighters battle a fire at their home. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Fire victims Cesar Abreu and his fiance, Lil, watch as firefighters battle a fire at their home. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre firefighters battle a blaze at the corner of Auburn and North Franklin streets Friday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire2.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wilkes-Barre firefighters battle a blaze at the corner of Auburn and North Franklin streets Friday afternoon. </caption1><photoCredit1>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A firefighter sprays water from the bucket of a ladder truck. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire3.jpg</photo2><caption2>A firefighter sprays water from the bucket of a ladder truck. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire4.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Firefighters lay a line of hose to battle a fire on at 3 Auburn St. in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire4.jpg</photo3><caption3>Firefighters lay a line of hose to battle a fire on at 3 Auburn St. in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </caption3><photoCredit3>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit3></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire1-cmyk.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Fire victims Cesar Abreu and his fiance, Lil, watch as firefighters battle a fire at their home. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo4>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire1-cmyk.jpg</photo4><caption4>Fire victims Cesar Abreu and his fiance, Lil, watch as firefighters battle a fire at their home. </caption4><photoCredit4>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit4></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire2-cmyk.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wilkes-Barre firefighters battle a blaze at the corner of Auburn and North Franklin streets Friday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo5>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire2-cmyk.jpg</photo5><caption5>Wilkes-Barre firefighters battle a blaze at the corner of Auburn and North Franklin streets Friday afternoon. </caption5><photoCredit5>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit5></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire3-cmyk.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">A firefighter sprays water from the bucket of a ladder truck. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo6>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire3-cmyk.jpg</photo6><caption6>A firefighter sprays water from the bucket of a ladder truck. </caption6><photoCredit6>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit6></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire4-cmyk.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Firefighters lay a line of hose to battle a fire on at 3 Auburn St. in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo7>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/web1_TTL070117Fire4-cmyk.jpg</photo7><caption7>Firefighters lay a line of hose to battle a fire on at 3 Auburn St. in Wilkes-Barre on Friday. </caption7><photoCredit7>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit7></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Natural gas fed flamesat structure fire in WB</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Travis Kellar</p><p>tkellar@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table style="border:none;width:98%;" class="mceItemTable"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> GJV6iOPbIDM</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJV6iOPbIDM</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> &lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/GJV6iOPbIDM&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Wilkes-Barre Firefighters battle a fire on Auburn and North Franklin Streets.</p><p></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Dilger</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Firefighters struggle with blaze in Wilkes-Barre