Area firefighters were kept busy Friday, July 25, responding to at least three separate house fires in Lakeview, Belle Center and Bellefontaine.
No physical injuries were reported at the fires.
Lakeview firefighters responded shortly before 6 a.m. to a fire at 270 Bentz Ave., Lakeview, where smoke and flames were visible upon arrival.
All occupants were out of the home when first responders arrived, Lakeview Assistant Fire Chief Josh Oakley said.
The Red Cross is assisting the 3 to 4 home occupants displaced by the fire, Oakley said.
First responders saved a cat and some kittens from the home.
The cause and origin of the blaze have yet to be determined.
The home is owned by Mary Ann Kemp, according to Logan County Auditor’s records.
A neighboring home sustained heat damage to its vinyl siding as well.
Lakeview Fire Department was assisted by the Indian Joint Fire Department, Indian Lake EMS, Huntsville Fire and EMS, and the Washington Township Police Department.
Crews were still on scene at 9 a.m.
Around 2 p.m., firefighters from the Richland Township Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched to a fire at 202 Charles St. in Belle Center.
The cause of the blaze is not yet known.
The home’s owners are Zanesfield residents Terence and Christine Brown, according to auditor records.
Firefighters from Bellefontaine (ladder truck), Ridgeway, Huntsville, Kenton and Roundhead and BMRT Ambulance District provided mutual aid.
Damage estimates for the Lakeview and Belle Center fires were not immediately available.
About 4 p.m., Bellefontaine firefighters and the department’s ladder truck were also dispatched to a minor fire incident at a home in the 500 block of West Columbus Avenue, where an electrical outlet in the residence’s second story is believed to have overheated.
Firefighters were on scene for less than an hour.
Photos by Jacob Howell and T.J. Hubbard.
