No one was injured during a house fire that broke out early Friday morning in Penn Forest Township.

A GoFundMe fundraiser has been set up for Christopher Knoll and his fiance, Joshua, who had to flee from their burning home and lost everything they own.

Tom Lynd, fire chief for Penn Forest Township Volunteer Fire Co. 1, said the fire broke out at 2:13 a.m. at the home at 279 Bear Creek Drive in the Bear Creek Dairy Development.

Lynd said when firefighters arrived smoke coming out all the windows that were open, and added that the homeowner had to climb out his bedroom window because the smoke was too intense.

Lynd said the fire is believed to have broken out in the area of the sofa in the living room inside the home, and that the homeowner was awakened by smoke detectors.

“(The homeowner) attempted to put it out with the fire extinguisher (but couldn’t), so he went into his bedroom, closed his door and went out his window,” Lynd said.

Lynd said he peeked inside the door, saw the couch was on fire, and closed it back up and secured utilities as other departments were en route.

“The sofa was so hot, it burned black,” he said. “It consumed the sofa and the heat was pretty intense; it melted the cabinets in the kitchen, anything plastic in the kitchen and living room.”

Lynd said that while the fire only took about five minutes to extinguish, the entire house in uninhabitable. Firefighters remained on scene for about two hours.

“We wanted to do a thorough investigation and make sure there was no extension,” he said. “One of the things we were concerned with, the house was hit with lighting in August and did a little bit of damage then.

“We were real concerned, what really caused this fire; was there something we missed. That’s why we were there so long.”

Lynd said there were no injuries, and added that the homeowner’s fiance, as well as three dogs and two cats, were all able to escape through the bedroom window.

He said the cause of the fire is unknown at this time.

Lynd said that a fire marshal conducted an investigation on Friday, and the cause remains under investigation.

Assisting at the scene were the Penn Forest Township Volunteer Fire Co. No. 2, Jim Thorpe Fire Department, and Franklin Township Fire Department.

“Because of the time, manpower was pretty light (with it) being the holiday,” Lynd said. “The smoke alarms worked; the homeowner did everything correctly.”

Knoll organized the fundraiser three days ago.

Knoll said they suffered smoke inhalation, and wound up spending between five to six hours at the hospital.

He said that he and Joshua have received assistance from the Red Cross, who helped them with some funding, blankets, tooth paste, deodorant, and body wash to help hold them over.

Knoll said they are currently staying at a hotel. “My parents are helping us out with a little bit of cash to get some food so we can get by until we get payments from the insurance company,” he said.

Knoll said this is the second time in an almost two years he and Joshua had to go through this. Their previous home on the same property burned to the ground on Jan. 9, 2021.

“My fiance put a load of wash in the wash machine, and the wash machine caught fire,” he said of the fire that took their first home.

Knoll was complimentary of the fire department. “Tom’s a really good guy, he really is,” he said. “Everybody at the fire department, they did everything possible to save our home.

“They didn’t do anything wrong. Obviously they had to break a lot of windows to get into the house, which is part of the firefighting process.”