AMITY — While Fredericktown firefighters were wrapping up the scene of a house fire on North Main Street in Fredericktown, they were dispatched to a second structure fire, this time on the far eastern boundary of their fire district in Amity.
A garage at the home of Tim Goines, 16615 Wooster Road, was fully involved when he and his nephew, Cody Starmer, discovered the fire.
Goines said he had been working on his vehicle in the garage earlier in the evening, and used a woodburner to heat the building.
“I believe it started in the wall behind the woodburner,” Goines said, explaining that a piece of tin surrounding the woodburner was meant to protect the rest of the building from sparks.
Goines ran next door to alert his neighbor, Rich Riel, whose house was very close to the burning garage.
“I smelled it actually, and then he came and knocked,” Riel said.
Much of the siding on portion of the house closest to the garage was melted and windows were damaged by the flames. The garage and vehicle inside were a total loss.
Because the Fredericktown firefighters were still on the scene in Fredericktown, College Township offered to assist as the first engine on the scene in Amity.
College Township Engine 459 arrived and the crew began attacking the fire. Two Fredericktown engines, a tanker, a rescue and a Fredericktown squad arrived soon after.
Assistant Chief Larry Schunke said the Fredericktown crews were grateful to the engine company from College Township Station 2 for its quick response.
When the fire was brought under control, firefighters used a winch attached to the front of one of the fire engines to remove the smoldering vehicle from the remains of the garage.
The Knox County chapter of the American Red Cross assisted the firefighters at both the Fredericktown and Amity fires with drinks, etc.
