CHESAPEAKE — A Tuesday night house fire that sent its owner to the hospital started in the kitchen, says the state fire marshal’s office.

At approximately 5:15 p.m. an off duty Lawrence County EMS employee was driving by the house on County Road 3, in Union Township, and saw the fire.

“She helped pull the injured man from the home with the assistance of a neighbor,” said Shane Cartmill, public information officer for the fire marshal.

The homeowner, whose name has not been released, was taken to Cabell Huntington Hospital.

Proctorville and Chesapeake volunteer fire departments responded to the blaze that destroyed the home.

A section of Frontier Communications’ fiber optic cable above the house was burned through limiting service for about 2,000 Proctorville area telephone customers.

“Residential customers and businesses were only able to make calls within Proctorville from 6:30 p.m. to 4 a.m. (Wednesday) morning,” Dave George, general manager for southern Ohio at Proctorville, said.

Frontier crews went in and removed the damaged cable with a new 150-foot section, George said.

The fire remains under investigation, the fire marshal’s office said.

“We are doing some more interviews,” Cartmill said. “We have more information to get from some witnesses and first responders and hopefully the victim.”