Woman injured in Piqua house fire

PIQUA, Ohio (WDTN) - By Will E. Sanders

A raging house fire fueled by exploding oxygen tanks quickly consumed a two-story residence located in the 500 block of Staunton Street on Wednesday that involved a nearby good Samaritan rescuing a lone older woman from inside the blazing structure.

Firefighters and paramedics rushed to 540 Staunton St. at approximately 11:40 a.m. and found a fast-acting inferno tearing through the house that sent billowing plumes of black smoke over the Shawnee section of the city.

A woman was home at the time of the fire and after her rescue by a citizen who works nearby she was transported to the Upper Valley Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries, which consisted of minor burns on her hands and a shortness of breath.

The woman could not be identified by the Piqua Fire Department, and her neighbors did not know her name, though stated she and her family moved into the home, a rental property, last month.

Dave Smith, 52, of Lena, who works across the street at Custom Aerosol Packaging, 543 Staunton St., saw the flames and acted fast, running across the street and helping the woman out of her burning home after she appeared to be going back inside the burning structure.

"I said, 'Come one we got to get out,'" Smith recalled. "I grabbed her and pulled her out, and that's when the oxygen tanks started exploding. It was really loud and scary. … These two big booms - boom, boom - went off."

Smith said the woman had an oxygen mask on her face when he rescued her and the other end of her oxygen tubes were singed in half by the flames.

"She had an oxygen mask still on like she was smoking," said Smith, who last year was on his way to work and also alerted a family that their barn was on fire along State Route 589 near Fletcher. "This is the second time something like this has happened to me."

Officials with the Piqua Fire Department and the state fire marshal's office continue to investigate the blaze but have not listed monetary damages or a specific cause.

However, Piqua Fire Chief Mike Rindler said the fire "looks accidental." A state fire marshal at the scene did note that the fire began near the home's front door.

The home will likely be a complete loss, but that determination has yet to be made. The county's building inspector told fire authorities the home was unstable.

An adjacent home sustained heat damage to vinyl siding as a result of the blaze, but caused no other significant damage except for a few downed wires. Several animals died in the fire, but no other injuries were reported.

The Northern Miami Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross confirmed they were assisting the family with immediate needs such as shelter, food and clothing.

During the fire, the Covington Fire Department was called in for assistance with providing mutual aid and helping to man the city's engine house while fire crews were at the scene.

Additional information on the fire was expected to be released today, Rindler said.