A fire today destroyed a two-story house and it spread to damage a neighboring home on Merwyn Avenue in Sheraden.

Neighbors at the scene said they were awakened around 5:45 a.m. by an explosion.

Dionne Lane, 40, of Glen Mawr Avenue, said the explosion shook her house a block and a half from the scene of the fire in the 2700 block of Merwyn Avenue.

"It was one of those unreal things. At first I thought a car hit my house," Ms. Lane said.

She said she went outside and saw the entire side of 2757 Merwyn engulfed in flames.

Neighbors are suspicious of today's fire and other recent fires in the neighborhood.

Two houses adjacent to today's fire burned within the past two weeks.

Another house a few blocks from the scene also had been on fire on Merwyn, neighbors said.

Fire officials still are investigating the causes in each incident.

"There are just too many fires. Someone has to be setting them," Ms. Lane said.

This morning, two men and a woman were able to escape from the house where the fire started. Occupants also escaped the second house.

The American Red Cross Southwestern Pennsylvania Chapter is providing two adults with food, clothing and shelter from one house and three adults with food and clothing from the other house, according to a spokesman.

Three hours after the blaze, the entire rear of the burned house appeared charred black, and water still dripped from the front side.

A white Nissan SUV adjacent to the burned house also sustained heavy fire damage.

The neighborhood in Sheraden has seen three fires, affecting five houses, in the last one and a half weeks, according to Capt. James Flaherty of the City of Pittsburgh's Office of Investigations.

All three fires are under investigation for arson.

The fire this morning started at 5:35 a.m. at 2757 Merwyn on the back porch. It spread to the SUV in the driveway, a garage in the backyard and next door to a house at 2759.

A propane tank behind 2757 flew through the air into a neighboring yard. No one was injured from the explosion.

Two doors down on Merwyn, a house at 2763 caught on fire June 6 at 8:36 a.m. and spread to 2761, Capt. Flaherty said.

On June 4, a house caught fire a block and a half away on Wycoff Avenue, affecting only one house.