Fire destroys home, flames rekindle hours later

VERMILION TWP. — A fire broke out at a home along Kneisel Road south of Vermilion on Sunday evening. After emergency crews spent roughly two hours dousing the structure Sunday, flames rekindled Monday around 4:30 a.m., according to Vermilion Township fire Chief Frank Triana. "It's been a long couple of days," Triana said. Triana said the fire was something he had never seen before in his nearly 20 years with the department due to the shape of the home. "I haven't seen anything like that in all the years that I've been doing this," Triana said. "It rekindled. We went down, and it had very steep pitches to the roof line. It's a unique home. There was a lot of peaks and valleys." Triana added that the attic had been "compartmentalized," and that "it made things more difficult for us." Due to the unique shape of the structure, Triana said there is a potential of the fire to rekindle once again. "With these steep-pitched roofs, sometimes you just don't see that. You don't see where the embers are," he said. "And then five hours later, you're back there doing what we do." Two additional departments — Vermilion's and Berlin Township's — responded to the initial call, according to Triana. No one was injured during either event as residents safely escaped the structure and did not return, Triana said. Triana estimated the structure as a total loss. The fire resulted in the temporary closure of Kneisel Road, according to the Erie County Sheriff's Office. The stretch situated between Coen Road and Ohio 60 was closed around 6 p.m. Sunday. Although Kneisel Road was reopened approximately three hours later, it again closed early Monday morning, according to multiple social media posts from the Erie County Sheriff's Office. Read more at chroniclet.com.