Fire damages Hwy. 348 home Monday afternoon

A home between the Mound City and East Union communities received significant fire damage Monday afternoon. The call came in about 3:52 p.m. after a passerby apparently spotted smoke at the 1940 Hwy. 348 address.

East Union Assistant Fire Chief Steve Coker said that the structure was a fairly large home that had been added to and renovated with living space upstairs. He said a pitched roof had been added leaving some voids outside the upper living area. The bulk of the fire appeared to be in the voids.

“The fire was pretty well advanced and heavily damaged the upstairs and roof,” he said. There was a small amount of fire damage to the kitchen but the downstairs sustained mostly smoke and water damage.

No one was home at the time and no firefighters were injured but there were pets in the house and they were rescued unharmed, he said.

The East Union, Center and Alpine fire departments as well as New Albany Rescue responded to the scene.

Coker said personnel were there nearly five hours, left to refuel but then returned briefly to deal with a hot spot.

He added that firefighters planned to return Tuesday to try to determine the cause of the fire.