Fire destroys home near East Petersburg

A motorist may have saved two lives when he alerted residents that their East Hempfield Township home was on fire late Tuesday night, fire officials said.

The 11:36 p.m. fire struck a home at 39 Bimini Drive, near Manheim Pike and Lititz Road, just north of East Petersburg, said Trooper Dustin Shireman, a state police fire marshal.

The home is owned by 79-year-old Jacqueline Ditzler. She and her 40-year-old grandson, Christopher Axe, may have been sleeping at the time of the fire, officials said.

Flames were going through the roof, but they safely got out after a motorist pulled in front of the home and blew his car horn, alerting them something was wrong, said East Petersburg Fire Company Chief James Rohrer Jr. He did not know the motorist's name.

"The people heard (the horn) and got out," Rohrer said. "If he wouldn't have stopped, the outcome could have been a loss of life."

"The fire was burning above them and they didn't even know it," he said. Ditzler and Axe had gone to bed. He didn't know if they were asleep.

A neighbor also went to the home to help, but the occupants walked out on their own, Rohrer said.

About 65 firefighters from area companies fought the fire, but couldn't save the home from being destroyed.

They attacked the fire in the attic for about 15 minutes, but were unable to extinguish it, Rohrer said. They were ordered to evacuate and then fought an exterior attack, including using an aerial ladder truck to stream water onto the fire.

When the blaze was mostly extinguished, firefighters went back inside with a hand line and finished the job, Rohrer said. It all took them about 45 minutes.

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Fire destroys home near East Petersburg