For the second time within a week, Lansford police officers Joshua Tom and Shawn Nunemacher just happened upon fire scenes during their night shifts in the community.

Tuesday night, at about 11:45, Tom was checking on a double-parked car on East Abbott Street when someone came running toward him yelling that their house was on fire.Tom reported the fire to the Carbon County Communications Center, grabbed a neighbor's garden hose and began battling the flames.Nunemacher was on duty with Tom, but in a separate cruiser Tuesday night. He quickly arrived at the scene and assisted in rescuing an occupant who was overcome with smoke.On May 21, Tom and Nunemacher were riding together in the police cruiser when they came upon a raging fire in a vacant building at 336 W. Snyder Ave., at about 1:15 a.m.Tuesday night's fire broke out at 254 E. Abbott St., where Joe Collins lived with his wife, Steph, and three small children, Logan, Jaden and Rylan.Steph, who neighbors said is pregnant, got out safely with the three children.However, police said Collins thought his wife was still inside and ran back into the house.He was overcome by smoke and needed medical treatment.Nunemacher said Collins was coughing and vomiting, and couldn't stand."We had to physically carry him away," the police officer said.He was transported to St. Luke's Miners Memorial Medical Center in Coaldale and is expected to be OK.Nunemacher praised his partner with keeping the blaze from becoming a major fire.Flames were shooting from the roof of a porch at the rear of the house when the police reached the scene. Tom grabbed a neighbor's hose and immediately began fighting the fire."Tom had the fire almost completely out," Nunemacher said. "If he didn't do that, it probably would have taken up the whole house."The neighbor, Kevin Horan of 250 E. Abbott St., said he and his wife, Lacey, were asleep at the time of the fire.He said he was awakened at the time and saw flames in the back of the house. "I'm glad everybody got out," he said.Tom said the flames were at the rear of the structure. "I shut off all the propane that looks like it led back there, then grabbed the garden hose."One window came out and by then the fire was spreading.He said the fire could have reached the upstairs by this time.Firefighters fromLansford, Summit Hill, Coaldale, Nesquehoning and Jim Thorpe responded.The firefighters quickly knocked down the flames and prevented them from spreading to the other side of the twin home.Joe Cannon, second assistant fire chief in Lansford, said the fire started from a cooking incident. The investigation is continuing.The officer in charge at the scene was Lansford Fire Chief Joe Greco.The Summit Hill Fire Department was at the scene of another call when the alarm sounded for the Lansford blaze.About 20 minutes earlier, they were summoned to a one-vehicle rollover on Route 902 just south of the top of Bugzie's Mountain. When they and police arrived, the driver of the car had already left the scene.The car was several yards off the road.Some of the Summit Hill apparatus left the accident scene and went directly to the Lansford fire.Also assisting inLansford were Lehighton Ambulance, fire policefrom Lansford, and local police from severalcommunities.