Homemade heating stove blamed for house fire

Firefighters are blaming a homemade stove for a Oct. 15 fire in Williamsburg.

The fire was first reported about 8:16 a.m. at 412 Savoy Clear Creek Road.

Williamsburg Fire Chief Larry Todd said that the Emlyn Volunteer Fire Department was initially called out for the fire that ended up being in Williamsburg’s territory. He said that houses on the right side of the road are in Emlyn’s fire territory while houses on the left side of the road are in Williamsburg’s fire territory.

No one was home when emergency responders first arrived at the scene, but they didn’t know that when they got there.

Whitley County Sheriff’s Deputy Brandon Prewitt, Whitley County EMS Director Danny Moses and volunteer firefighter Alex Standridge were the first people to arrive at the scene, and entered the structure to make sure that no one was still inside before the first fire truck arrived.

“When we got on scene, we had heavy smoke coming from the window. There was more smoke than there was fire,” Todd said.

When firefighters got inside, they discovered that a homemade woodburning stove had been set up with wood stacked up all around it, which was responsible for the blaze.

The fire caught the stove, wall and ceiling on fire and it spread outside and caught the soffit on fire, but firefighters were able to contain the blaze there before it spread any further, Todd noted.

The home was an older, wood-framed house that sustained moderate smoke damage.

“The stove pipe was different colors and different kinds of pipe. When it came out and went up to the soffit. It had a mailbox on top of it with the door still on it,” Todd said.

The Williamsburg Fire Department responded to the scene with two fire trucks, and Emlyn Volunteer Fire Department responded with a fire truck and a tanker.

Firefighters were on the scene for about two hours to make sure the blaze had been extinguished.