COLUMBUS, Ind. — A Columbus family escaped injury after a fire broke out in the attic of a Washington Street home Wednesday. Firefighters found extensive fire damage in an isolated area of the attic which required the removal of a sizable portion of a ceiling in the area where the fire occurred.
Columbus Firefighters were called to the 2600 block of Washington Street at approximately 5:01 p.m., said Capt. Mike Wilson, Columbus Fire Department spokesmand.
The homeowner was alerted of smoke in the home’s attic and called 9-11. When Columbus firefighters arrived, they saw light smoke coming from the roofline and gable vents. Firefighters entered the home and made access into the attic where they found flames within the attic’s insulation. Initially using a pressurized water can fire extinguisher, firefighters were able to douse the visible fire. As firefighters continued their inspection of the attic area, firefighters quickly determined that additional fire spread was hidden beneath the insulation and the fire had extended in a large area from where the initial flames were located. To fully access the damaged area, firefighters were forced to remove a portion of a ceiling above one of the home’s bedrooms. Once the ceiling was removed, firefighters applied additional water from a fire house until the flames and smoldering insulation were fully extinguished.
During the initial investigation, firefighters learned that blown-in attic insulation had been applied earlier in the day, Wilson said. The homeowner told firefighters that, at some point following the insulation installment, an odor was detected in the home but did not immediately cause concern. The owner of the home added that, over time, the odor became more concerning which led the occupants to attempt to identify an origin. During the homeowner’s investigation into the source, it was discovered that a power outage occurred within a bedroom. Inspecting the home’s electrical box, the owner told firefighters that the breaker for that bedroom had tripped. An attempt to reset the breaker failed, according to the owner. It was soon after that a contractor working in the home found smoke in the attic and alerted the owner of a possible fire prompting firefighters to respond to the home.
Damage within the attic space indicated that a smoldering fire occurred within the insulation. The fire made contact with multiple ceiling joists, which was visible by extensive charring. Firefighters said that they encountered one joist within the attic where a two-foot section of the joist had completely burned away and one additional joist that was nearly burned through. Battalion Chief Mike Sieverding, incident commander for the incident, said that attic fires can easily go unnoticed until smoke or flames enter the home’s living space. “To provide early detection for an attic fire, the best alarm to consider is a heat detector style alarm,” said Battalion Chief Sieverding. Sieverding added that a traditional smoke alarm installed in a hot and dusty attic space may produce false alarms, while a heat detector alarm is specially designed to alert when temperatures rise to conditions outside of normal attic temperatures, indicating a potential fire. Sieverding also praised the homeowner’s persistence in attempting to identify the origin of the odor in the home and calling firefighters as soon as smoke was discovered.
The exact cause of the fire is under investigation. Agencies that assisted at the scene include the Columbus Police Department, Columbus Township Fire and Rescue and Columbus Regional Health EMS. The family will be temporarily displaced due to damage. Immediate disaster services have been offered through the American Red Cross. No injuries were reported at the scene. No damage estimate is available at this time.
