WINCHESTER, Ky. (WKYT) - A Winchester family is not injured after an early morning fire broke out in the attic of their South Maple Street home Thursday, according to Winchester Fire Chief Chris Whiteley.The Winchester Fire Department responded around 3:06 a.m.“The father woke up and went to the gym. The wife had called him and said the smoke alarms were going off. They had smoke in the house. And of course, he returns home. And when he got home, he had smoke coming,” Whiteley said.Four people live in the hom...
WINCHESTER, Ky. (WKYT) - A Winchester family is not injured after an early morning fire broke out in the attic of their South Maple Street home Thursday, according to Winchester Fire Chief Chris Whiteley.
The Winchester Fire Department responded around 3:06 a.m.
“The father woke up and went to the gym. The wife had called him and said the smoke alarms were going off. They had smoke in the house. And of course, he returns home. And when he got home, he had smoke coming,” Whiteley said.
Four people live in the home, with three of them being home at the time of the fire, according to Whiteley, and no injuries were reported.
Whiteley said the fire’s origin made it unusual. While fires in balloon-frame homes typically start in the basement and travel up through the walls, this fire did not.
“It actually started or originated in the attic, it appears. Took the crews a little bit to find it,” Whiteley said.
Once crews located the fire, they were able to extinguish it quickly.
“There’s not a lot of heat damage in the house. There’s a lot of water damage. Of course, there’s the attic. There’s a lot of heat impingement damage. This — I mean, it can be restored,” Whiteley said.
The home is not a total loss, according to Whiteley, and the Red Cross was called for the family.
Winchester crews were overloaded, prompting mutual aid from departments in Lexington, Paris, Richmond and Clark County — either responding to the scene or backfilling at the station.
“I’m really proud of the guys, our guys that responded. They did their job. They did it well. Very proud of the mutual aid and the agencies that came to assist us. That’s true brotherhood. That’s mutual aid and makes Kentucky special,” Whiteley said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.