Franklin Twp. fires displace two families
2 homes destroyed, 2 damaged in area of Warren County lacking fire hydrants.
Franklin Twp. firefighters and an official from the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s office spent part of Monday morning investigating a huge fire that destroyed two houses and damaged two more in Franklin Twp.
Franklin Twp. Fire Chief Michael Hannigan said crews were called to the 6900 block of Torrington Drive about 11:07 p.m. Sunday night and arrived to find heavy smoke in the back of one house, which quickly spread to the house next door.
As of late Monday afternoon, he did not have an estimate on the damage to both houses which were devastated along with two other houses that sustained heat damage to the siding. Several cars were damaged in the blazes, and four adults and a child have been displaced, Hannigan said.
No injuries to residents or firefighters were reported, he said. No cause has been identified by investigators.
Hannigan said the house where the fire originated had elevated decks on two floors, a pool and a tiki bar.
“There was plenty of wood, plenty of oxygen, and off to the races it went,” Hannigan said.
The largest challenge in fighting the blaze was the water supply as that area of Franklin Twp. does not have water lines or fire hydrants. Many of the homes in that part of Warren County are above the Great Miami Aquifer which is one of the largest sources of water in North America.
Because of that, many people rely on private water wells, even though many have sewer service from Warren County.
Fire crews called for aid from surrounding fire departments in Butler, Warren, and Montgomery counties, particularly tanker trucks to go to the city of Franklin or to Poasttown School in adjacent Madison Twp. for additional water resupplies. He said many of the tanker trucks came from the rural areas in eastern Warren County and western Butler County.
Hannigan said the lack of fire hydrants can take some time to establish a significant supply. He said fire trucks first arrive with about 1,000 gallons of water, he said, but once that it was expended, crews have to wait for more to arrive.
He said that by the end they had used about 12,000 to 13,000 gallons of water available in tankers from several fire departments lined up on Castlebrook Drive, but the system took about a half-hour to set up.
“It’s just how it is,” Hannigan said. “It doesn’t mean I like it, but it’s how it is.”
There were no injuries in the fire, which brought in fire crews from Warren, Butler and Montgomery counties.