No one was injured this morning when a house fire spread to two other homes in Swissvale.

An Allegheny County dispatch supervisor said the fire was first reported just before 6:15 a.m. at a home in the 2300 block of Milligan Avenue.

The three-alarm blaze, which drew eight fire companies to the scene, started at 2330 Milligan and moved to both homes next door. One was vacant, and several people were able to escape from the other, said Swissvale fire Chief Clyde Wilhelm.

One of two residents at 2330 Milligan was unaccounted for at first, but was discovered hours later at a friend's home nearby.

Dean Shogan had been waiting nervously outside the charred home for a sign of his brother, Curt. He said Curt's longtime girlfriend, Sue Howe, told him Curt had come home around 2:30 a.m. after work, and walked to a friend's home to watch movies.

When the fire started, she managed to escape, but couldn't find Curt.

"She looked for him before she left the scene of the fire," Dean Shogan said.

The house in which the fire started was destroyed, and the two neighboring homes sustained damage.

Firefighters searched for Curt among the debris in the burned-out home. Around 8 a.m., he walked down the road and joined his family.

Chief Wilhelm said the cause of the fire is under investigation by the Allegheny County fire marshal's office. Dean Shogan said Ms. Howe thought the fire may have started from a bad wire on a lamp.

First Published: February 13, 2014, 12:33 p.m.