FRANKTON — Marshal Shively could only watch as flames climbed through the third-story attic of his vacant century-old Victorian home.
“Yeah, there goes the roof,” he said as flames ripped through the rafters. The fire had damaged every floor of the house and kept an army of firefighters at a difficult distance beneath.
“I have no idea what happened,” Shively said as firefighters worked to stop the fire’s spread, minimize damage and retrieve what they could. “I just don’t know what to think.”
No one was hurt in the fire.
Frankton volunteer firefighters and Frankton ambulance responded to the fire call shortly before 1 p.m. Friday, and arrived to find flames coming through the east side of the wood-frame house at 503 Clyde Street. Fire crews from Pipe Creek, Richland and Union Townships and from Alexandria and Lapel soon arrived. Madison County Emergency Management Agency also responded.
Crews contained the fire by about 2:30 p.m. and Frankton Fire Chief Rob Amick said firefighters were putting out spot fires until about 4:30. He said Friday evening that the cause of the fire had not been determined.
Amick said the house was heavily damaged by fire on one side and that smoke damage was heavy throughout.
Shively said the house contained many antiques. “We were able to salvage a lot of that,” Amick said.
Amick said Frankton volunteers were on the scene of the fire within about seven minutes of the call, and credited the rapid response of mutual aid from other agencies.
“The Frankton Fire Department can’t thank the support they have from the community and the surrounding departments,” he said. “It’s amazing how we work together.”
Shively said he’s owned the house since 1978, but had not lived there since he remarried and moved into a house with his wife in Elwood a couple of years ago. He said he had been in the house earlier in the day to check on a roof leak, and said everything seemed fine.
He said the house, built in 1897, had been remodeled recently. He had hoped to put it on the market.
Contact Dave Stafford: 648-4250, dave.stafford@heraldbulletin.com
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Fire guts big Frankton house
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