LENOX TOWNSHIP — James A. Fultz walked through the remnants of his East Footville Richmond Road home as friends and family sorted through what was left of their possessions.
Fultz had to reset his circuit breaker late Monday evening before going to bed. He said he caught a whiff of an odd smell and decided to investigate.
A series of popping and cracking noises coming from the roof alerted Fultz to serious problems. “I knew we were on fire,” he said.
Fultz got his wife, Diane, and son, Chad, out of the house and called the fire department on his cell phone.
“Nobody got hurt. That’s all that matters,” Fultz said.
Tom Lachey, assistant fire chief of the Jefferson Fire Department, said he received the fire call about 11 p.m. Monday and the department was on the scene until 2:30 a.m. Tuesday.
“Basically there was heavy smoke coming out of the roof,” Lachey said.
The home and most of the contents were destroyed by the fire. “(We saved) some pictures and a couple of Christmas gifts. That’s about it,” Fultz said.
He said they had just completed some remodeling and much of his equipment for a disc jockey business was destroyed in the fire as well.
Lachey said the fire started up in the ceiling in the area where there was a lot of wiring. He said it is likely some kind of electrical problem started the fire, but it is still under investigation.
Fultz said they will be staying with family and his insurance company is already looking into housing possibilities.
“All I can say is there are a lot of people worse off than us,” he said.
A Fultz family fund has been set up at the Andover Bank in Jefferson, but the public can contribute to the needs of the family at any Andover Bank branch.
Ellen Kolman contributed to this story.
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