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Christmas gifts, home destroyed in fire

Posted at 2:43 AM, Dec 22, 2014
and last updated 2015-12-17 02:43:22-05

A man was forced to jump to safety after a fire broke out just before midnight at his Chautauqua County home.

The fire started at a home on Jackson Street in Irving, which is near the I-90 interchange.

Irving Fire Chief Gerald Rice lives right across the street and said he was alerted to the fire by someone pounding at his door. He found a man on top of the home's front porch trying to escape the heat and smoke of the fire.

"As soon as he touched the door it was hot. So he tried to open the door and seen flames and he shut it, and went out onto the roof," said Mike Kroll, step-father of the man who escaped.

The man later jumped off the roof to safety and was not hurt. He was the only person inside of the home at the time of the fire.

It appears the fire started in the back of the house on the first floor, spreading up and into the attic. Firefighters had a tough time battling this fire because of the confined space and rafters in the attic.

The resident blames the fire on faulty electrical wiring. The Chautauqua County Fire Investigator's Office will look into the fire and will give their the final determination in the coming weeks.

The home is likely a total loss according to fire officials. The family Christmas gifts were also lost to the fire.

No one was hurt.