PHILIPSBURG, Pa. (WTAJ) – Tyler Walstrom was doing some remodeling work at the building behind Brown Dog Catering in Downtown Philipsburg Sunday afternoon, when he smelled smoke.

“I saw brown dog catering having a whole bunch of brown, gray smoke coming up our of it, below and out of the roof and everything,” Tyler Walstrom, from Philipsburg, said.

Once he saw the flames and saw the owner was outside, he went to his parent’s house a few blocks over to get a hose.

Tyler worked to keep the flames on the backside of the building from spreading, until crews arrived.

“I hooked it up to reach the Brown Dog Catering building and started trying to spray where there were some flames coming out,” Walstrom, said. “I wasn’t sure if spraying the initial flames would help or not. In the heat of the moment, it just seemed like I needed to do something for a fellow local business owner at least until fire companies could arrive.”

More than eight fire crews responded to the fire around 2:15.

According to the Philipsburg Fire Department, the fire start at Brown Dog Catering in the first floor and spread to one apartment on the second floor.
No one was injured. Firefighters rescued several cats in the apartment.

Walstrom says crews worked quickly to contain the fire to one building.
“They ended up rolling in a couple trucks all at once and they were able to come from the front and the back and contain the fire pretty quickly, so I was impressed with how quickly they were able to get unloaded and set up to start putting the fire out,” Walstrom, said.

The fire was contained to one building. The cause of the fire is being investigated.