New Sharon Fire Damages Residence
New Sharon Fire Department arrives on scene of a Wednesday morning house fire. (photo by Carrie Houser)
New Sharon Fire Department responded to a mid-morning fire that caused extensive damage to the North side of Jamey Buckley residence on South Elm St. in New Sharon.
Liz Fleming was working at EastMarket Grocery just West of the house when a customer noticed what appeared to be some smoke coming from the home. Unsure at first of what they seen, it quickly became apparent that the house was on fire, and Fleming quickly called 911 to let them know.
Fleming said that the New Sharon Fire Department was quickly on the scene. “When your waiting, it’s always to long” Fleming said about how time seems to go by slowly from when the 911 call is placed until someone arrives on scene.
Fleming crossed the street and started beating on the windows to make sure no one was inside or was sleeping. Fleming said she had been asked by dispatchers to keep everyone back until emergency workers had arrived, but she said she did anyway because “I don’t listen well.”
“It was more smoke than it was flames, but it was A LOT of smoke.” Fleming described the fire when it first started.
Oskaloosa Fire Fighters assisted New Sharon's Fire Department in Wednesday mornings house fire
Buckley, who is the sole occupant, was not at home at the time. He was at work when the fire started, and his thoughts were the fire may have started from a light in the North portion of the house that he had left on.
Buckley says that his pet dog made it out of the fire safely, and the response of the local fire department was “They were pretty freaking fast” in their response to the fire that was damaging his home. “I would say they did a pretty good job.” Buckley said of New Sharon’s Fire Department.
Buckley had been remodeling the inside of the home, and was set to work on the exterior of the home. From all accounts the home is not a total loss at first examination.
New Sharon Fire Captain Terry DeCook says that they did a complete check on one of their volunteer fire fighters that had been on scene the longest, as the hot weather could possibly cause heat stress on fire fighters. DeCook says they have no idea at this time what may have started the fire when I spoke with him at the scene.
DeCook also believed the house was not a total loss upon first examination, but with all situations like this, further examination may reveal other problems.
MidAmerican arrived to disconnect the electricity from the home just as fire fighters started wrapping up. Oskaloosa Fire Department, Mahaska Health Partnership Ambulance and Mahaska County Sheriff’s Office all assisted on scene.
