COLUMBUS — A fire smoldering undetected within newly installed attic insulation caused significant damage to a Washington Street home yesterday afternoon before Columbus firefighters were able to extinguish the flames.
The Columbus Fire Department (CFD) was dispatched to a residence in the 2600 block of Washington Street just after 5 p.m. on Wednesday. The family inside the home reported noticing an unusual odor that was initially faint but steadily grew stronger after insulation had been blown into the attic earlier in the day. The emergency call was prompted when a contractor working nearby spotted smoke emerging from the attic.
Upon arrival, firefighters observed smoke escaping from under the roofline and from gable vents. Crews immediately went to work and discovered a smoldering fire within the insulation. The fire had spread across a wide area beneath the material.
The effort to fully extinguish the fire required removing a large section of the ceiling in a downstairs bedroom. Firefighters confirmed that the intensity of the blaze had burned entirely away a two-foot section of a structural joist, and a neighboring joist was nearly burned through.
Fortunately, the family escaped the residence unharmed before the CFD arrived, and no injuries were reported. Due to the resulting fire and water damage, the family has been temporarily displaced and is receiving assistance from the American Red Cross.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Following the incident, Battalion Chief Mike Sieverding, the incident commander, offered vital safety tips regarding the hidden danger of attic fires.
“Attic fires can easily go unnoticed until smoke or flames enter the home’s living space,” Chief Sieverding cautioned. He praised the homeowner’s diligence in investigating the growing odor and calling for help as soon as smoke was visible.
Chief Sieverding strongly advised homeowners to consider specialized detection systems for these difficult-to-monitor spaces.
“To provide early detection for an attic fire, the best alarm to consider is a heat detector style alarm,” he advised.
He explained that a traditional smoke alarm installed in a hot, dusty attic may frequently produce false alarms. In contrast, a heat detector alarm is specifically designed to alert when temperatures rise beyond normal attic conditions, providing an essential early warning of a potential fire.
