House receives major damage following Friday morning fire

NORWALK — Nobody was hurt but the home at 3167 Ohio 61 North, just south of the Norwalk Armory, received major damage following a fire Friday morning. Firefighters from the Huron River Joint Fire District and the Norwalk Fire Department worked for hours on the fire. Milan also helped out with a water tanker. The house is owned by Pat and Cari Spettel. "The call came at 9:49 (a.m.)," Huron River Joint Fire District Chief Curt Stang said. "They were home at the time, as far as I know. From what I am hearing they cleaned out the fireplace and put the embers on the back porch. You think it is out and once it gets outside the air will get the embers going. "That was the second one we had this week when some hot embers started a fire in a brush pile." Stang said the fire was fully engulfed when his crews arrived. "We had lots of black smoke," he said. "We could see it before we got there. When we got there the back porch was completely on fire. It got into the living area." Firefighters were on the scene about five hours. "The way the home was built there were a lot of timbers and wood in the decor," Stang said. "We had a tough time getting to the fire. The upstairs floor started to collapse. We couldn't get on the floor and we couldn't get underneath it. We were trying to get in between the floor and the ceiling to put it out." While the damage was extensive to the back of the half, the front half, built in the late 1800s, was left intact with little water or fire damage, Stang said. 'It did have a lot of smoke damage," he said. "The front of the house was built in 1870 and the back was 1976, Pat (Spettel) told me. "The back part is pretty much completely gone." There were no injuries. "We were very fortunate," Stang said. "Two major fires the last month and Norwalk helped us out both times. With the manpower at both fires we were fortunate nobody was hurt. We are more lucky than good without any injures but I will take it." Stang said it was a real team effort. "We had guys hauling water," he said. "We had Milan bring in a tank of water. We were fortunate to get water at Sycamore and Main but it was tough to keep up. We wanted to put as much water on it as we could to stop it and keep it out of the front part of the house." "I can't day enough good about the guys. They all busted their tails to get the job done. A great group of guys. It was something I saw on TV this morning ... it was a story about cleaning up the snow and people were helping people out. "That's what makes this country great, people helping each other out. That is what it all about in the fire service. We appreciate the help we get."