In the face of subzero temperatures, firefighters from two local fire companies combined efforts to battle a fire Wednesday night that left a Harris Township family homeless.

Firefighters from the Boalsburg Fire Company and the Alpha Fire Company fought the freezing temperatures for more than three hours during the fire at 328 Fairfield Drive in Boalsburg.

Two family members escaped the fire without injury and a third member was not home at the time. The house suffered extensive damage and the family is now staying with neighbors, said Boalsburg Fire Chief Norm Spackman II.

Steve Lower, Alpha's second assistant fire chief, wore two layers of clothing under his fire gear but was still cold when his clothing became wet and froze.

"Once you get wet it compounds the problem," Lower said. "It draws the heat out of you."

Frozen clothing became a hindrance as firefighters carried 10-foot ladders through knee-deep snow to reach the fire in other parts of the house.

Because firefighters closely monitored the hoses and water pumps to keep them from freezing, no major equipment problems occurred.

"We had to keep the water flowing somehow to keep the pumps from freezing," said Chris Klein, captain at the Alpha Fire Company.

Nearby residents opened their homes and provided coffee and hot chocolate to the exhausted firefighters. Some firefighters fought to keep warm by huddling near a furnace in a nearby garage.

"The neighbors gave us more support than you could ever dream of," Spackman said.

Water from fire hoses ran into the street and caused road crews to spread salt in the area, which Lower decribed as an "ice rink."

The Alpha Fire Company was called just after 11 p.m. for backup to the Boalsburg Fire Company as a result of weather conditions and the size of the fire. Alpha sent a rescue vehicle, an aerial truck, an engine and about 20 firefighters to the scene.

Klein said the extreme cold and heat are the most difficult conditions in which to fight a fire.

"We always expect the worst in cold weather and we are ready for it," he said.