Photo provided A Hughes Street home was damaged by fire late Friday in Columbus.
Columbus Fire Department investigators say the cause of a house fire on Hughes Street was accidental after an electrical malfunction resulted in extensive damage to the home. The owner of the home was able to escape.
Firefighters were called to 11 N. Hughes St. at about 10:24 p.m. Friday. When firefighters arrived on the scene, they saw fire and smoke coming from the front porch window of a single story home.
Columbus police made contact the owner of the property, Curtis Miller, who had gone to a neighbor’s home to get help, said Capt. Mike Wilson, Columbus Fire Department spokesman.
Miller told officers that the no other persons were inside the residence. Fire crews entered the home and found heavy fire conditions in a living room area. Crews applied water to the flames and the fire was marked under control within 10 minutes of firefighter’s arrival, Wilson said.
Additional firefighters completed a primary and secondary search of the home and confirmed no one was inside. Miller told investigators that he was watching television in a bedroom at the rear of the home when he was startled by a noise coming from the front of the home. Miller told investigators that he looked toward the living room area and saw the glow of flames. Miller said he then left from a rear exit of his home and ran to a neighbor’s home to ask them to report the fire. Miller was not injured.
Miller told fire investigators that earlier in the evening, he had moved a portable fireplace heating appliance from a room at the rear of the home to the living room. He plugged the device into a floor mounted electrical receptacle without incident, he told firefighters.
Investigators focused their attention on the fireplace heating device and the electrical receptacle when they found evidence of electrical arcing. Investigators determined the cause of the fire was accidental due to electrical malfunction, Wilson said. Investigators said that the electrical draw from the device may have caused the receptacle to short out and contributed to the development of fire.
Damages to the home are estimated at approximately $50,000. Miller told firefighters that he would be temporarily staying with neighbors. No working smoke alarms were located in the home during the course of the investigation.
