No injuries in E. Finley fire
A fire caused extensive damage to an East Finley Township house Thursday, but no one was hurt in the blaze, which was extinguished about midday.
Firefighters were dispatched to a one-story ranch house on Rock Hollow Road at 11:17 a.m. after Diana Barbisch – who lives there with her husband, Rudy, and 9-year-old daughter – called 911.
Chief David Dietrich of the Morris Township Volunteer Fire Department said the fire started in the basement before spreading upward.
“It burned a hole in the first floor … so it had been burning for some time,” he said.
Barbisch said she got home from an errand and saw white smoke – which she said she thought was steam evaporating off the roof – from outside.
“It was just horrible. A couple of days ago, my daughter’s dog died, that she’s had since she was 3,” Barbisch said. “And then this.”
She told Dietrich the family would probably stay at her mother’s.
Dietrich said a state police fire marshal arrived and would investigate the cause of the fire. He said it took “a good hour” to get it under control.
Along with his department, firefighters from West Finley, Canton, South Franklin, Claysville and West Alexander were on the scene. Washington County Ambulance & Chair and the county Department of Public Safety also sent crews to assist.