By Justin Schneider, Herald Bulletin Online Reporter/Manager
ANDERSON — No one was hurt in a house fire on the near-north side of Anderson Thursday morning.
The Anderson Fire Department was summoned to a residence at 1210 Indiana Ave. around 9:30 a.m. It took about three hours for Anderson firefighters to clear the fire, said Assistant Battalion Chief Kenny Williams.
Williams said it was determined that the fire was caused by electrical wiring.
Neither family is returning to the house. One family was relocated by the American Red Cross and the other will be the second family to live in the Anderson Fire Rescue House, Williams said.
Bobby Randolph, who lives in the two-unit rental house with his wife, Velvia, said he went out to buy a newspaper and returned home to find one side of an L-shaped wall on fire.
“When I came home the wall was on fire,” Randolph said. “I broke out that window to help the lady upstairs get out.”
Randolph said Donna Bundy rents the upper unit of the house.
He attempted to extinguish the flames with a garden hose, but said the fire made it impossible for him to reach the spigot.
Randolph said the room damaged by the fire contained musical equipment, but no obvious fire hazards. He said an electrician recently did some work on the adjoining bathroom.
“We didn’t have any renter’s insurance,” Randolph said. “Everything we had was in that house.”
Randolph said a pet cat had not been located.
Anderson firefighter Skip Ockomon said Bundy will be moving into the firehouse after a brief interview and stay at a local hotel.
“We do whatever we can to help them get back to their lives,” Ockomon said. “We don’t like to call them fire victims; we call them fire survivors.”
Reporter Christina M. Wright contributed to this article.
