The first fire happened about 6 p.m. at the home of Janet Burns, a Mad River Twp. Fire Department dispatcher, Fire Chief Tracy Young said.
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“She was actually on duty that day … when the fire occurred,” Young said.
Burns was at her one-story home when a neighbor alerted her.
“My neighbor was out in the back, working in his garage and he came over, just opened the door and told me to get out,” Burns said. “No smoke, I didn’t smell anything, didn’t see anything.”
Her neighbor said there was a lot of smoke.
“I thought my son’s house was the one on fire. So I ran all the way down there,” said Flora Parrett, an Enon resident.
Her son lives next door to Burns and is the one who told her to get out.
Burns is thankful he did. By the time she got out and looked at her home, she said one corner was gone.
“I lost everything. There’s no roof, everything from the ceiling up is gone,” Burns said.
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The homeowner has been in the home since 1986 and is in disbelief she lost family pictures, mementos and her granddaughter’s belongings.
Burns and her two cats made it out safely
“I’ve had better days,” she said.
Two hours later, the home across from Burns caught fire as well.
“Crews re-mobilized and started extinguishing efforts again,” Young said.
The fire likely started in the attic in both homes, the fire chief said.
“That started to raise our … suspicion a little bit that something was going on, possibly with the electric grid,” Young said.
The state fire marshal was called because of the similarities of the two fires and because of Burns’ employment with the township.
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“It just seems really odd that we have two fires catty-corner from each other,” Young said.
The fire marshal later ruled out a connection when he discovered the two homes were on different electric grids.
“About 99.8 percent that these two fires are not related,” Young said. “Although the area or origin is similar and the state fire marshal’s office has never seen anything like this.”
The official report will be available in the coming week about both fires. Both homeowners had insurance and no one was hurt in either fire.
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