DALLISON - It took firefighters from five volunteer companies at a house fire Thursday morning to get enough manpower and water to tackle the blaze.
Volunteers from Deerwalk, Waverly and Eastwood fire departments were called out to a rural house fire around 9 a.m. Thursday. The house, located on a steep hill off Jericho Lane, was a few miles outside Dallison.
Deerwalk VFD Lt. Jeremiah Whitlatch said when crews arrived they found the one-and-a-half-story cabin-style home enveloped in smoke and flames.
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Firefighters from five area volunteer companies responded to a Jericho Lane house fire Thursday morn
Amanda LeMaster said she was preparing to leave when she noticed a strange smell. She thought it was some recently hung lights.
"I flipped them off," she said, but the smell persisted.
LeMaster said she went into the utility room and noticed a haze. She opened a louvered door leading to the breaker box and saw flames climbing up the wall.
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Firefighters from five area volunteer companies responded to a Jericho Lane house fire Thursday morning. Upon arrival firefighters found the one-and-a-half-story wooden house engulfed in smoke and flames. (Photo by Jody Murphy )
"There was a piece of paper that listed what the breakers shut off and it was burnt," she said. "The flames were going up the wall."
LeMaster said she called 911 while standing in the room, watching the fire spread.
"They told me to get out of the house."
A propane tank on the rear of the structure caught fire, incinerating the back porch. Smoke from the house rose several hundred feet in the air.
LeMaster got out of the house safely and no one was injured in the blaze. Her husband Keith arrived to find the house engulfed in smoke and fire and firefighters swarming the property.
Keith LeMaster and his father took two years building the house, completing it in 2006.
"They hand-sawed all those boards," Amanda LeMaster said as she watched firefighters pull away the home's exterior walls. Whitlatch said the house is a total loss.
Whitlatch said the Lubeck and Blennerhassett VFDs were paged to provide additional water and manpower. Firefighters had to shuttle trucks from the fire about two miles to the nearest hydrant in Dallison for water. Truck engines had to be utilized to push water up the grade to reach the scene.
"We set up portatanks with engine on each side to (pump) water up the hill," Whitlatch said.
The Fire Investigation Team was called to determine the cause of the fire.
