COLERAIN TOWNSHIP -- Two firefighters were injured in a Wednesday evening blaze that destroyed a Colerain Township home.
The two-story East Miami River Road home, its garage and several automobiles were heavily damaged. Firefighters were searching for a cause Wednesday night.
The fire appeared to have started in the basement, said Robert Rielage, Colerain Township assistant fire chief. No damage estimate had been set.
Sarah Mockbee, 15, a granddaughter of the home's owners, Ken and Sue Sinclair, was at a nearby pool Wednesday afternoon and noticed the fire. She called 911 for help.
"Smoke just hit me in the face," Sarah said. "That's when I knew it was trouble."
By the time fire crews arrived about 4:30 p.m., the house was fully involved, Assistant Chief Rielage said. Hampered by a lack of nearby hydrants, firefighters battled the blaze about three hours. Seven neighboring fire departments sent water tankers to aid Colerain Township crews.
The two firefighters injured were taken to Franciscan Hospital-Mount Airy Campus for minor injuries, Assistant Chief Rielage said. Ron Stenger was being treated for heat exhaustion, and Tom Erb injured his back when he began to fall through a floor, but was caught by three fellow firefighters.
Mr. Sinclair said he and other neighbors have been trying to get municipal water service extended to the neighborhood the past two decades. He had lived in the house 26 years. Family members were frustrated as fire crews struggled to get water to the blaze.
"This would have been nothing," had hydrants been nearby, said Mr. Sinclair, while looking at the charred remains.
But the home was already engulfed in flames when firefighters arrived and the damage would have been considerable even if there were hydrants nearby, Colerain Township Fire Division Chief Darrell Brown said. There are many homes in the township that cannot be reached by hydrants, he added.
