May 24, 2017 2 min read

A fire Monday afternoon destroyed the home of a Hendersonville family in Cecil Township.

William Cass, chief of Cecil No. 1 Volunteer Fire Department (Lawrence), said the call initially came in to 911 about 2:32 p.m. as a report of a girl’s hair on fire.

“We were thinking maybe it was a hair dryer,” Cass said. “We believe it ended up being caused by a heater in a room that had a infant in a crib. The house went up so fast.”

Cass said the mother and father, along with the infant, were able to escape from the house at 414 Blue Jay Drive. He said other children also lived in the home, but he did not know if they were home when the fire started. The names of the people living in the home were not available Wednesday.

“The house is totally uninhabitable and may have to be torn down,” Cass said.

The fire started in a first-floor bedroom of the two-story frame house. The older home had once been a mining company house, the chief said. The homes in that area are very close to each other, but firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading, Cass added.

“Everything went well,” Cass said.

Morganza Road had to be closed so firefighters could stretch a fire hose from a hydrant on the opposite side of the road. Traffic was rerouted onto Cecil-Hendersonville Road or Southpointe Boulevard.

A state fire marshal believes the heater started the fire. Fire crews were on the scene for about three hours. Assisting Cecil No. 1 at the scene were firefighters from Cecil No. 2 (Muse) and Cecil No. 3 (Cecil), McDonald and Fairview.

Cass said the house was not insured. The American Red Cross is helping the family with their immediate needs and housing. Cass said he is working on putting together a GoFundMe page or something similar to help the family.