Piqua Fire Department fire investigators Cleadous Hawk, left, and Assistant Chief Lee Adams, point out the likely cause of an early morning fire on Orchard Lane in Piqua on Tuesday morning.
PIQUA — A Piqua couple is safe today thanks to early warning of a fire in their home by working smoke alarms.
Piqua Fire Department was dispatched around 2 a.m. to a reported fire alarm at 35 Orchard Lane.
The alarm was initially called in by ADT Home Security, who contacted Miami County Dispatch. While the alarm was being called in, ADT also telephoned the homeowners, who were asleep in their second floor bedroom. Once awakened, the occupants heard the smoke alarms warning them of smoke inside the residence.
Assistant Chief Lee Adams of the Piqua Fire Department said that if it had not been for the early warning of the smoke alarms, the outcome of the fire could have ended in tragedy.
Upon arriving at the scene, Piqua Firefighters dropped a second alarm. Covington Fire Department was already en route while Fletcher and Lockington Fire Departments were placed on-call in their respective stations, ready to respond, and Covington Rescue Squad handled all calls for a medic while firefighters were battling the fire.
Both occupants escaped the fire but the husband was later transported to Upper Valley Medical Center where he was admitted due to smoke inhalation. Several cats inside the home are all believed to be accounted for.
Thanks to quick work by firefighters, the fire damage and most of the smoke damage was confined to a single room in the basement, where investigators believe the fire began, probably in a plugged-in “wax warmer” that was left unattended.
The couple is temporarily displaced by the fire but, as Piqua fire investigators pointed out, without working smoke detectors, the outcome could have been much different.
Fire crews cleared the scene around 5 a.m.
No estimate of damage was yet available.
