Two Pets Perish in Rural Northern Greene County Home Fire

Jul 09, 2023

By Benjamin Cox on June 6, 2023 at 1:14pm

A single-story home was a complete loss in a fire yesterday in rural northern Greene County.

The Roodhouse and Winchester Fire Departments were dispatched at approximately 1:15 yesterday afternoon to a structure fire at 1270 County Line Road, approximately 1 mile north of Barrow Township.

Roodhouse Fire Chief Terry Hopkins says that a utility shed and a single-story modular home were fully involved when fire crews arrived: "The best we can tell so far is that it started in maybe – I’m not sure how large – 12×12 or 12×14 shed behind the home, but it was only about 30 feet from the house. The wind had a little north breeze to it yesterday. It blew the heat right to the back side of this modular home. Of course, it melted the siding and then it was on from there. The family lost everything, and they weren't home when it was reported. The neighbors down the road spotted it. So, they basically got out with what they had on their back that day."

No injuries were reported to people. However, two pets did perish in the fire. Hopkins says they are certain that the fire started in the shed, but not by suspicious means: "We are not 100% sure of [the origins], and that's just assuming. It's just strictly a guess. There was electricity [in the shed]. There wasn't any chargers or anything the homeowner thought or that they knew of that was on. It's anyone's guess now because it was such a total burn up in such a small shed. Anything that we come up with now is just going to be speculation, but it almost had to have been electricity. There wasn't anything else there because nobody was home."

White Hall Fire also provided mutual aid to the scene. Hopkins said with it being such a remote location that firefighters needed all the water they could to knock down the fire. Firefighters remained on scene until the evening doing knock down of hot spots.