Nine escape Southington Township house fire

SOUTHINGTON

The State Fire Marshal’s Office says a 1 a.m. Tuesday house fire at 4004 Phalanx Mills Herner Road was the result of an earlier kitchen-stove fire that got into the duct work.

The family extinguished a stove fire during the day Monday and didn’t report it to the Southington Fire Department, according to a news release from the state fire marshal.

But the fire was also in the exhaust hood of the stove, and it extended into the duct work, where it smoldered for several hours before it finally extended into the attic and caused a much larger fire, the fire marshal said.

At about 1 a.m., a passerby alerted the family, consisting of four adults and five children, that the top of the house was on fire, and all escaped unharmed. The fire caused “significant damage,” the state fire marshal said.

The state fire marshal’s office encourages all Ohioans to report every fire, no matter how small or insignificant the fire seems, so that firefighters can check for extension into walls, cabinets or duct work, the fire marshal said.

Investigators found two smoke detectors in the home, but neither detector had batteries.