Star City Volunteer Fire Department

BY MARY HELEN HINCHLIFFE The Dominion Post
   Fire destroyed an abandoned structure located off Scotts Run Road in Osage on Saturday night after passersby called 911 and reported seeing flames inside the building.
   According to MECCA reports, four local volunteer fire departments responded at about 10:17 p.m. to the intersection of Ervins Lane and Scotts Run Road, to find the structure engulfed in flames and smoke.
   Capt. Butchie Renner of Granville Volunteer Fire Department said when firefighters first arrived on the scene, the two-story building had heavy amounts of smoke and fire.
   �We were putting water on it right away and it was already burned through the roof,� he said. �It had a second ceiling in it and the fire was in between the roof and the second ceiling.�
   About 24 firefighters and four trucks from Granville responded to the blaze.
   Volunteer fire departments from Star City, Cassville, Westover and Mount Morris, Pa., also responded.
Capt. John Huber of the Star City VFD said flames were about 40 feet above the building when they arrived.
�It was heavy and thick black smoke,� he said. �It�s one of the biggest fires we�ve had in the past year or so.�
Renner said the structure was about 150 feet long and 50 feet wide. It had a metal roof, which made it difficult to apply water inside the building.
Firefighters were on the scene until about 4:30 a.m., trying to keep the fire from re-igniting. �That�s one of the reasons we were on scene so long is because you had the metal roof and all the fire smoldering underneath off it,� he said. No one was injured while battling the blaze, Renner said.
   However, there was a problem with water pressure coming from the single fire hydrant located at the scene, which was about 1,000 feet from the building.
   �There used to be a hydrant right against the building, and for some reason, it had been taken out,� Renner said.
   Huber said Cassville VFD had to draw water from Scotts Run Creek to assist with the blaze.
   Chief Gary Renner of Granville VFD said there didn�t appear to be anything flammable inside the structure, but there was a live power line going to one corner of the building. The building was unoccupied at the time of the blaze; only a small amount of hardware supplies were present in the building during the fire.
   The structure previously was a block and concrete plant, which had closed a number of years ago.
   Renner said the cause of the fire has not been determined yet and is currently under investigation.