Allentown responded to a reported house fire around 6:45PM Monday at Furnace and Sycamore Streets Box 3148. Engine 6 reported heavy fire showing blocks away. On arrival, they had live wires down and reported a fully-involved 2-story end-of-row with the address of 19 Sycamore Street. Engines 6, 4, 9, 14 (F.A.S.T.), Truck 2, Battalion 43 (Hess) was on the box.
Engine 6 and Engine 4 stretched lines and darkened down the bulk of the fire within 15 minutes of arriving. Engine 14, originally the F.A.S.T. company, went to work so Engine 13 came in to replace them as the F.A.S.T.
Once the fire extended to the attic along with all the hot spots, Battalion 43 struck out the second alarm bringing in Engine 10 to fill out that box.
As the fire extended horizontally to exposure D and possibly D2, the Battalion Chief had the 3rd alarm sounded, bringing in the last engine company in the city, Engine 11.
Through mutual-aide agreements with the surrounding volunteer companies, they were called-in to back fill and man the empty fire houses in the city.
Preliminary investigation shows the fire probably started on the stove top. No one was home at the time of the fire. A passer-by called 9-1-1.
