All escape injury in Marion Township house fire
MARION TWP — Both of the residents of a home on West Sunbury Road escaped injury after a fire that gutted the building on Thursday afternoon, April 24.
The fire drew at least nine fire departments from three different counties, with the Marion Township Volunteer Fire Department taking the lead.
The fire was first reported just prior to 5 p.m. Thursday, when according to multiple eyewitnesses, thick black smoke was pouring out of the building.
“It was called in by a passerby. When we got here there was heavy black smoke from the upstairs of the building,” said Patrick Martino, chief of the Marion Township Volunteer Fire Department.
“We walked down here and the whole front of the house was fully engulfed in flames,” said neighbor Brian Sproul. “It’s the first time I’ve ever seen a house fire.”
Fortuitously, the home was located just blocks away from the Marion Township fire department’s barracks on West Sunbury Road.
According to Martino, the fire was declared under control roughly an hour after emergency crews arrived. Martino says that the family also had multiple dogs, and none of them were seriously hurt in the fire either.
Other fire departments to respond to the scene arrived from Bruin, West Sunbury, Slippery Rock, Unionville, Petrolia, Pine Township, and Clintonville. Superior EMS was also called to the scene.
According to Martino, the Red Cross was called to assist the family with living arrangements.
