ROME, N.Y. — Fire officials are looking at a wood stove as the possible cause of a blaze that destroyed an assistant fire chief’s home located across the street from a firehouse.
The fire was reported around 3:15 a.m. Sunday at the home of New London Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Leroy Nestle, who lives across from the fire station, the Associated Press reported.
Chief Nestle, his wife and one of his children, who’s also a fire department member, were home at the time and all escaped without injury. The family’s pets died in the blaze.
“Everyone came when they saw that house number come up,” Fire Chief Gene Carey said of the responding firefighters. “We’re a big family here and we did all we could.”
The two-story home is a total loss and the cause of the fire appears to have something to do with its wood stove.