House destroyed in blaze that set off brush fire

By RACHEL LANE
LITTLE HOCKING — A brush fire caused by a house fire was quickly contained by area fire departments. The house was destroyed.

At about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, a house at 871 Tower Road, Little Hocking caught on fire. Two and a half walls and the roof collapsed as the flames started a brush fire behind the home, said Little Hocking Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mike Chevalier. Coolville and Dunham Township volunteer fire departments and firefighters from the Barlow department also responded.

“Some of the firefighters were hit when bricks fell,” Chevalier said. Other than those minor injuries, no one was injured.

The home, owned by Randy Tompkins of Beverly, was rented to a family of two adults and three children. Their names were unavailable at press time.

“I was driving across the river by DuPont and I saw it,” Tompkins said.

He said he knew it was his house because it was easily seen.

“I saw some smoke. There weren’t even any fire trucks here yet,” he said. “Of all the places we’ve ever lived, this was my wife’s favorite.”

Tompkins said the family moved from the house about four years ago and began renting it.

Chevalier said family members were in the house for about 10 minutes when they saw black smoke coming from the back porch. The dead-end road caused some congestion with regular traffic and emergency vehicles, he said.

“We were shuttling water from the fire department,” Chevalier said. Four tankers were transporting water non-stop for more than an hour.

He said the fire had been burning for a while before fire trucks arrived and it burned hot and fast.

“It was already through the roof when we arrived,” Chevalier said. It took 45 minutes for the fire to be contained and about another hour before most of the flames were out.

“It appears to have started on the back porch,” he said. The state fire marshal was contacted, but a cause was not expected to be determined for several days.

“You have to wait for all this to cool off enough for him to get in there,” Chevalier said.

He said the American Red Cross was contacted to help the family.

Tompkins said one of the residents ran out of the house without shoes on. A Mustang GT was removed from the attached garage, but a second car was destroyed.