Local school assists family affected by fire

Searfoss Elementary is collaborating with the school's parents to assist the Holderby family, which lost its belongings in a house fire Tuesday morning on South Main Street.

Principal Janet Smith said a letter has been sent to parents with suggestions how they may best assist the family, which includes a Searfoss student.

"Fifth-grade classmates are each drawing a picture and those will be compiled to create a quilt for the student's new bed," Smith said. "The students have reached out to her and she's doing okay. People are rallying and we've had calls about how to help."

The Monroe Township Fire Department, Plain, Harlem, Granville, St. Albans, Mifflin townships and West Licking responded to the Tuesday morning house fire at 181 S. Main St. It was reported at 10:29 a.m..

Monroe Township Fire Chief Dudley Wright said the blaze, which started on the first floor of the home, caused little fire damage on the second floor but resulted in heavy smoke damage throughout. He estimated damage to be about $80,000.

"At the time of the fire, all of our career personnel were on an unconscious-person EMS call," Wright said. "Fortunately we were able to have two of them return to the station for the fire run and there were two off-duty firefighters at the station at the time of the fire. The first arriving fire crews did an excellent job of containing the fire, which was blowing out of the back of the house upon their arrival."

He said that they managed to prevent the fire from significantly damaging the second story.

The sole occupant at the time of the fire was taken to OSU Medical Center for smoke inhalation.

The cause of the fire is under investigation by the Licking County fire investigation team.