Dozens of firefighters from Carbon and Schuylkill counties battled a stubborn blaze for nearly two hours early this morning along a main road in Coaldale.

The fire at 40-42 W. Water St., Route 209, broke out just before 4 a.m. in half of the duplex."We encountered heavy fire upon arrival," Coaldale Fire Chief Steven Polischak said this morning."We made an attack and found the fire to be well involved in 42 so we backed out and went defensive and knocked out the fire."The fire was very far in front of us," he said. "It had a running start."Aerial pumper trucks were utilized to fight the blaze from above, while crews also battled from the street. Fire companies that responded to help Coaldale Fire Department included Citizens, East End, Tamaqua, Tuscarora, Summit Hill, Lansford and West Penn. Pottsville and Tamaqua RIT were called to the scene, as well as Tamaqua and Ryan Township Ambulance and borough fire police.A section of Route 209 was also shut down for several hours this morning.No firefighters were injured, Polischak reported, adding that the homes that burned were unoccupied at the time."I want to thank all of the firefighters who responded here," Polischak said. "We had quite a few companies from the area. They did a very good job working together to put the fire out. I want to commend all of the guys for the job they did."The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, Polischak said. A state fire marshal will be called in to investigate.It was also a scary morning for area neighbors, who watched the blaze unfold.Amy Machay, who lives about a half block away from the homes, woke up early this morning to the sounds of sirens.When she looked out her window, she saw the house at 42 W. Water St. on fire."We saw the trucks then all of a sudden you could see the windows turn orange and then they shot out and the patio roof caught fire and the other side went up," she said. "It was very, very scary. I have never seen a real fire before like that so it scared me."She said that at one point, she and her family heard the fire companies blow their horn, meaning that everyone needed to get out of the structure.