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Calcutta Fire Chief Dave McCoy said they don't have a clue on the cause of the first of six fires that took place in southern Columbiana over the past 10 days.
The fire on Irish Ridge Road Feb. 2, McCoy said the structure was so far burnt it makes that one hard to investigate. The only thing they can do is talk to the people who were last there. He noted that once the insurance company starts their process, they will probably bring their investigators in. The structure is considered a total loss.
"It's going to be a hard one to investigate," McCoy said. "We don't suspect, nor do we see anything suspicious."
The second fire to take place Feb. 2, at the Calcutta Common Apartments on Pugh Road, firefighters believe that the fire was started by a resident using oxygen and smoking. Other than smoke damage, peeling paint and damage to the contents of the room, that fire was contained to one room in the apartment.
The third fire to take place in St. Clair Township happened this past Friday, Feb. 10, at Mike Pusateri's Excavating on St. Clair Avenue.
McCoy said the fire department did get called back out on minor rekindle at the site which they put out quickly.
Two firefighters were sent to the hospital after receiving burns battling this fire. McCoy said they were treated and released pretty quickly and one of them is back to work but in communications, not on firefighting duty. He has gotten a little better. The other firefighter is expected to go to the burn unit in Pittsburgh to have his burns looked at. Neither of the firefighters' names have been released.
Assistant Fire Chief Eric Croxall doesn't have any updates on any of the three fires that took place in East Liverpool over the past week except to report that the State Fire Marshal was in on Monday to look around at Gina's Drive Through and said he would get back to the Croxall whenever he had anything.
Gina's Drive Through was considered a total loss after being engulfed by fire on Sunday morning.
He did have one firefighter injured while battling the fire that happened on West Eighth Street on Friday. Croxall said all his firefighters are now doing fine.
The cause is unknown on the structure fire that destroyed one house and damaged two others on Erie Street Feb. 4.
Neither McCoy, Croxall, or East Liverpool Assistant Fire Chief Lance Smith believe any of the fires to be suspicious in nature and the community does not have to worry about an arsonist running around. The rash of fires is said to be simply an unfortunate coincidence.
Kgarabrandt@mojonews.com