advertisement:
By GLEN WERLING
Fires swept through and destroyed two homes Sunday.
Bluffton firefighters were paged out to both blazes—the first at the William Frye residence, 524 W. Wiley Ave. at 5:44 p.m.
Frye told firefighters he was in the process of moving when he realized the pipes were frozen at the residence.
The fire report noted that Frye “opened the floor to check for broken pipes but then closed everything because it was too cold.”
That was about 10 a.m. Frye then reportedly left the residence. He didn’t return until after 6 p.m. when a friend called him and told him his house was on fire.
The 911 call was placed to emergency dispatch by a neighbor who reported seeing flames at the rear of the residence.
That is where firefighters believe the fire started—in either the kitchen or laundry room area of the 1,200-square foot single story wood frame house. Firefighters were on the scene until 8:52 p.m.
The cause of the fire is unknown and likely will remain that way as firefighters contacted an excavating company to demolish the house. That was after firefighters responded to two rekindlings at the house—the first at 11:39 p.m. Sunday and the second this morning at 6:09 a.m. Following this morning’s rekindle, the residence received further substantial damage.
One firefighter suffered minor head and neck injuries battling the original blaze when a chunk of wet ceiling fell on his head. Jim Curran was taken by Wells County EMS to Bluffton Regional Medical Center for treatment. He was later released.
The second of the two fires was at the Sylvan and Betty Gerber residence, 7250E-100S.
The 911 emergency dispatch center received the call at 8:19 p.m., just prior to wrapping up the battle of the first blaze on Wiley Avenue.
Recognizing that manpower was stretched to the limit, mutual aid was quickly requested from Monroe, Berne, Poneto and Liberty Center fire departments.
Firefighters realized that they would need all that help upon arrival as according to the fire report, the upper floor of the two-story house was fully involved.
According to the fire report, firefighters went to a defensive mode.
The fire report noted that fire consumed the whole house, “from top to bottom.” High winds were blamed for spreading the fire quickly and for hampering firefighters efforts to battle the blaze.
Eventually Kaehr Excavating had to be called in—with the homeoweners permission and with the permission of Farm Bureau Insurance—to demolish the residence.
The cause of the fire is believed to be accidental and may have had something to do with baseboard heaters in the upstairs of the residence.
According to the fire report, the homeowner went upstairs around 5 p.m. and turned on a baseboard heater. Around 8 p.m., the upstairs smoke detector started sounding. When he went to check, he could see the smoke. Reportedly, from the outside, flames were visible at that point.
No injuries were reported from that blaze. The total loss was estimated to exceed $150,000.
Firefighters were on the scene of that blaze until 12:58 a.m. today.
Ossian firefighters were also kept busy Sunday as they provided water and manpower for a housefire on Flatrock Road in Allen County near Hoagland.
At first firefighters were placed on standby at 7:18 p.m. and then were requested for water because Hoagland and Poe firefighters were having trouble with their water supplies freezing, but then a rekindle occurred at 9:30 p.m. and Ossian was requested again, this time supplying two tankers and a pumper.
glenw@news-banner.com
Read this story in our E-Edition, Click Here
Talk about this story in our forums!