Lack of hydrants causes challenges as firefighters respond to vacant house fire in Clark County

BETHEL TOWNSHIP — Firefighters responded to a vacant house fire in Bethel Township early Wednesday morning.

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As reported on News Center 7 Daybreak, around 3:15 a.m., crews were dispatched to the 4900 block of Alpha Road in Clark County on reports of a structure fire.

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Bethel Township Fire Chief Jim Snyder said that a lack of hydrants in the area caused challenges to responding crews.

“That’s the biggest drawback is there’s no hydrants and we’re on a dead-end road, so you can’t use the tanker to have them drive by, dump the water and leave,” Snyder said. “They get cornered down in here, we got to back them out, and it’ll be a while before they can all go fill up.”

The house was fully engulfed by the time crews responded to the scene, according to Snyder.

It’s unclear how long the house was on fire before it was reported, according to Snyder.

“I could see the glow coming down National Road. It was going pretty good,” Snyder said.

Snyder said the house is believed to be vacant, but crews still have to search the structure.

“It came in as vacant, a lot of stuff was inside still. It all collapsed on each other. We’ll get through it,” Snyder said.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation at this time.

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