House Couple Was Buying To Tear Down Over Fire Hazard Concerns Catches Fire While They Sign Deed

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(stevendepolo)

Sometimes, bad things happen pretty much exactly when you’d expect them to, in a bit of unfortunate happenstance. Does it make you mad? Yes, maybe, but it was just meant to be. To wit: a couple in Pennsylvania who were buying a vacant house next door to tear it down because they were worried it was a fire hazard were proved correct when the home did, indeed, catch on fire… while they were signing the papers to become the owners.

The couple were at the county courthouse putting pen to paper on the dead, reports the Associated Press, citing the Somerset Daily American (paywall site).

The house in question sits a few feet from their home, so if it went up in flames, the fear was that a fire could spread to the couple’s home pretty quickly. They wanted to buy it and get rid of it to ensure that didn’t happen.

A neighbor called 9-1-1 about the fire yesterday afternoon, and the fire department quickly extinguished flames on the first floor. Fire officials have since determined that the origin was suspicious.

The woman told the paper that the vacant home had “been sitting empty for a couple years. We didn’t even know about the fire until the fire department was called.”

‘Fire hazard’ home burns as couple signs deed to buy it [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist