COLUMBUS – Fire investigators say the folks who lived in an apartment where a two-alarm fire broke out Sunday morning did everything right when they lit a fire in their fireplace on a chilly Saturday night, but eight families were still left in the cold when the flames broke out.
The people who lived in the home on Foxhound Lane in the Villas at Little Turtle subdivision woke at 5:57 a.m. to strange noises and found the roof and chimney on fire, fire division spokesman Battalion Chief Steve Martin said.
They called 911 and began knocking on neighbor’s doors to alert them to the fire. Martin says there were no reported injuries of civilians, firefighters or pets but the American Red Cross was called in to assist at least eight families whose homes were damaged.
Firefighters arrived on the scene to find the fire coming through the roof of the first apartment and spreading across the building through the attic and roof, said Martin.
A second alarm was called because of the quickly spreading fire and martin says Westerville, Clinton Township, Mifflin Township, and Plain Township fire personnel ended up responding to the fire, which was brought under control at 7:11 a.m.
Martin says investigators have determined the fire started between the walls in the fireplace or chimney area of the apartment and extended to the attic.
The residents said they had been enjoying a fire Saturday night and when the fire died down, they closed the doors and went to bed, he said. They didn’t do anything wrong, Martin says. The investigation shows the occupants burned the appropriate amounts of aged, dried firewood and the cause has been ruled accidental.