Quick Response Limits Damage In St. Mary’s Fire

A residential fire forced emergency personnel to close a portion of St. Mary’s Road in Franklin County for over two hours on Wednesday night.

The initial report of the road closure was announced via Nixle, a community text message alert system, at 9:56 p.m.

The Brookville Fire Department and Eagle Fire Company of Oldenburg responded to the scene on St. Mary’s Road near Pumphouse Road in Oak Forest.

The intersection of St. Mary’s and Pumphouse Road is close to Ss. Philomena and Cecilia Catholic Church.

According to Assistant Brookville Fire Chief Larry Race, both departments were able to minimize damage but had to close the road from 10:00 p.m. to midnight due to the proximity of the property to the road.

Race indicated that a wood stove in the chimney may have caused to the fire.

“No injuries [were reported],” said Race. “We’re estimating $20,000 in damage maybe, but that is just an initial estimate.”

“For what we had and where it was at, I was very proud of both departments that responded. They got it down very quickly and was able to saved a lot personal property,” Race said.

Original Post 10/24

A Nixle message was sent out to the community last night regarding a house fire in Franklin County.

The fire occurred on St. Mary’s Road near Pumphouse Road around 9:56 p.m. last night. As a result, the road was closed for unspecified amount of time.

The fire was near Ss. Philomena and Cecilia Catholic Church in Oak Forest.

According to sources, multiple fire departments responded to the scene, including Eagle Fire Company of Oldenburg.

WRBI will keep you up-to-date on this developing story.

Nixle is a text-message service utilized by emergency services and government agencies to keep community members informed on important community events.