Friday, May 07, 1999
Attic fan blamed for house fire
Fort Mitchell blaze injured 7 firefighters
BY CINDY SCHROEDER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
FORT MITCHELL — An attic fan was the source of a blaze that sent seven firefighters to hospitals Wednesday night, causing about $250,000 damage to a Superior Drive home and its contents, authorities said Thursday.
Assistant Fire Chief Dave Jansing said fire broke out about 8:30 p.m., after an exhaust fan overheated in the attic of a Tudor-style home owned by Sylvia Ruh.
“Mrs. Ruh had turned it on about 7 p.m. to cool the attic down, because she planned on going up there later on,” Assistant Chief Jansing said. “The 50-year-old appliance had not been lubricated or cleaned since the house was built, and it overheated.”
Seven firefighters who battled the stubborn flames were treated, but none admitted, for burns at area hospitals.
Joe Shockey, Chad Dietz, Jason Steffen, Jeremy Kleier and Thomas Crone were treated at St. Elizabeth Medical Center South. Two un-
identified firefighters were treated at St. Luke Hospital West.
“It was like a wall of fire coming at you,” Assistant Chief Jansing said of a flashover that knocked several firefighters off their feet.
During a flashover, an intense blaze will heat the contents of a room, giving off combustible gases, firefighters said. The resulting explosion and heat can reach as much as 1,500 degrees, or about twice the temperature at a typical fire.
Mr. Dietz was part of a crew on the second floor when one flashover occurred.
“After we pulled down the ceiling, I heard a real loud hiss, then the whole room was on fire,” the firefighter said. “I knew I was in trouble when the back of my neck and my ears and my arms starting burning.”
On Friday, Mr. Dietz returned to the fire scene on crutches, the result of a torn ligament in his knee. His wrists were bandaged for second-degree burns, and the backs of his ears had been treated for first- and second-degree burns.
He received a tearful embrace from Mrs. Ruh's daughter, Sylvia Ruh-Rassche.
“It's a frightening thing,” Ms. Ruh-Rassche said, as she surveyed the damage to the home where she and her two brothers had been raised.
The Fort Mitchell woman said a power outage gave the first hint of trouble.
As she walked to the basement to check on the circuit breaker, a passer-by noticed smoke coming from the roof and stopped to offer help.
“He ran upstairs and tried to put it out with our fire extinguisher, but the heat was just too intense,” Ms. Ruh-Rassche said.
“We didn't even get our purses,” said Mrs. Ruh, who had been outside planting flowers. “We just grabbed the dog and cat and got out.”
As friends and family stopped by Thursday to offer comfort, Mrs. Ruh thanked firefighters for saving the Sworski crystals on her mantel, and a clock marking her 50th wedding anniversary with her late husband, Willis.
“I'm very grateful it's just things we lost, not people,” she said.
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