The May 31, 2008, fire destroyed the family’s home, but Deborah and her husband, Tim, rebuilt by July 2009. Last week’s fire was contained to the home’s garage. No one was injured, and Lovett said her family has been able to stay in the home after the fire.
“The fire department did an excellent job,” Lovett said. “It was a total redemption from the first fire. The first time, everything went wrong. This time everything went right — from the alarms, to the response, to knowing where the hydrants were.”
The Lovetts’ home is on a fairly rural road with the nearest hydrant nearly a half-mile away. The 2008 fire was more intense before crews got there, and the fire departments had water problems. They eventually had to pump water out of a neighbor’s pond, with the blaze spreading throughout the house.
Lovett said when she received the call last week that her house was on fire again, it was like reliving a nightmare.
“I was speechless,” she said. “I really could not believe it. I’ve never been so distraught.”
Sugarcreek Twp. fire Chief Randy Pavlak said early detection was a key to controlling this fire, which started in a trash can in the garage. Pavlak said a heat sensor in the garage went off, and both the alarm company and the two-person maid crew that was in the house at the time called 911.
Lovett said in 2008, there was no heat sensor in the garage, where that fire also started, adding “you learn from your mistakes.”
Pavlak said the official cause of last week’s fire is still under investigation.
While the Lovetts had another near-tragedy, Pavlak said they do not hold the Sugarcreek Twp. record for fires. He said a house in the Walnut Hills neighborhood has had three fires, one in the chimney and two sparked by lightning strikes since the 1980s.
“It’s just bad luck or whatever you want to call it,” Pavlak said. “I’m just really glad (the Lovetts) put a full-fledged fire alarm system in the house.”
New ambulance
Sugarcreek Twp. bought a new medic unit last week from Burgess Hearse and Ambulance for $128,000.
Pavlak said the new medic will go to Station 71 in downtown Bellbrook, and will allow the township to put their 1994 model into backup status because it now has three newer ambulances.
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