Photo submitted by Phil Palen Pictured is the remains to 384 Palmer St., Gowanda, where the home was fully involved Saturday as the homeowner was in Pittsburgh.

GOWANDA — A remote resident could only receive updates on his home that was fully involved in flames Saturday in the village of Gowanda.

At 4:58 a.m., the resident of 384 Palmer St. was getting notified that his carbon monoxide detector, or CO detector, was going off and so was the Gowanda Fire Department. Mark Hebner, the first assistant, lives nearby and checked it out.

Nothing was visual and the homeowner was in Pittsburgh.

“We didn’t see anything and couldn’t get in,” Gowanda Fire Chief Nick Crassi said. “He monitors his house remotely. He was aware of the CO detector was going off.”

However, the temperature was getting higher than expected inside the house as the current Pittsburgh resident could control his thermostat as well. Hebner noticed that the back of the home was fully involved.

With Gowanda Fire, Collins, Lawtons, Perrysburg and Dayton fire departments came for assistance. A local fire hydrant was frozen and the local fire crews helped supply water. The blaze was fought for three hours.

The fire investigators in Cattaraugus County determined it was an electrical fire that began in the second story in the back of the house. It was a total loss that was valued around $75,000.

Crassi added the need of notifying local fire departments that a house will be vacant for an extended period of time. Like this case, if a detector goes off, fire crew members can enter the building and check for possible damage.

“The biggest thing is that if people are unattending their homes, and we had no ability to get into their homes, they should notify the local fire departments to inspect it,” Crassi said. “Or have a key holder that we know about it to get in the home. There are many times we go to the homes and the detector is going off and we check the house and the area, but we can’t do anything about. But many times we do get into the homes and check it to sniff for CO.”

Twitter: @Kuczkowski95