SUV object of search after house fire
Published 10:10 am Thursday, April 9, 2009
ROME TOWNSHIP — A red Jeep Wrangler-style SUV is the object of an informational search by the state fire marshal following a Tuesday evening fire.
Rome Township Fire Department was called to Township Road 86 at 6 p.m. where they found an abandoned farmhouse engulfed. The house was one of other structures on the property, whose owner called in the fire, according to Rome Fire Chief David Clark. He declined to identify the owners.
Witnesses told investigators they saw the vehicle with a black top leaving the scene prior to the fire, according to Shane Cartmill, public information officer with the fire marshal’s office in Columbus.
Rome firemen were out for approximately four hours, Clark said. There was no one in the structure at the time and there were no injuries. Rome was assisted by the Windsor department that brought a pumper and Proctorville supplied a tanker. The origin and cause of the fire are undetermined.
Investigators haven’t ruled out arson, Cartmill said. Anyone with information about the truck should call the Division of State Fire Marshal at (800) 589-2728.