Ireland kitchen fire displaces family of five
An Ireland family was displaced from their West Leprechaun Lane home after a fire caused extensive damage to it Sunday afternoon.
Zach and Miranda Campbell and their three children, Payton, Brady and Luke, were home when Payton stepped into the kitchen and saw the fire.
According to Ireland Fire Chief Stan Seifert, the family quickly exited the home and called 911; that call came in at about 5:28 p.m.
When firefighters arrived, they were met by heavy black smoke coming out of the front door and attached garage. Firefighters entered the home with hoses and extinguished the fire, which was mainly relegated to the kitchen area.
After extinguishing the fire, firefighters stayed on the scene to ensure no hotspots flared back up.
Seifert said they suspected the fire originated from an air fryer used just before the event. Seifert said that flames from the air fryer likely spread quickly after setting the nearby kitchen cabinets on fire.
The fire damages were isolated to the kitchen area, but heat, smoke and water damage also occurred in the dining and living room areas. Much of the home’s contents were damaged or destroyed. However, Seifert noted that some children’s clothing may have escaped smoke damage due to closed bedroom doors.
“Structural-wise, (the home) is not too bad, but there’s a lot of smoke damage in the whole house,” Seifert reported, adding that some children’s clothing may have escaped smoke damage due to doors being closed to two bedrooms.
The Campbells escaped the house with Coraline, one of the family’s two pet cats. A firefighter located their second cat, Larry, who had evaded them as they left the home, in one of the closed bedrooms.
The family stayed with relatives Sunday evening and has a place to live through help from relatives.
Ireland Volunteer Fire Department responded with 22 firefighters and four trucks. They were on the scene for about an hour
While fighting the fire in the cold, water from the hoses immediately froze outside the home. Seifert said they were careful not to coat the driveway with water to keep it from running into the street and freezing. It added to the difficulty, but they worked around the harsh conditions. Memorial Emergency Medical Services also responded to the scene and opened their ambulance for responders to use as a warming station. A neighbor opened their home to the family while firefighters fought the fire.
No injuries were reported.
A GoFundMe has been established to assist the family, and Retro Mexican Cuisine has also announced a fundraiser.
