Lowell structure fire closes U.S. 60 | News, Sports, Jobs

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From staff reports

A structure fire in Lowell closed down Ohio 60 for around two hours Thursday afternoon.

Lowell-Adams Volunteer Fire Chief Josh Harris said the call came in around 12:30 p.m. Thursday.

“At the time, it was a confirmed structure fire. The owner called it in,” Harris said.

He said Assistant Chief Chad Stengel was on scene and the building which housed the former Oakwood Furniture was “pretty well fully involved inside.”

There were two structures, the first with 4,000 square feet of space, and the second with 3,200 square feet. Harris said the larger structure was “burned all the way up inside,” while the second structure was able to be saved by local fire departments.

“We cut a hole in the roof and we did some mop-up in there,” he said. “There were flames in there that got up into the tresses.”

The building was recently sold and Thursday was the first day for the new owners, who were opening an HVAC business. The Washington County Auditor’s website shows the property was last purchased in 2002 by Robert and Rhonda Huck of Lowell.

Harris said there is automatic mutual aid with Beverly and Devola fire departments, but Salem, Reno and Watertown fire departments were toned in for backup.

He said the Ohio Department of Transportation, Washington County Sheriff’s Office and Ohio State Highway Patrol were also on scene.

“We had close to 30 guys on scene between all the departments and probably 12 pieces of fire equipment,” he said.

The fire was extinguished around 2:20 p.m. Thursday. The cause of the fire is undetermined pending the state fire marshal’s investigation.

“There were no injuries and everyone is going home safe,” Harris said.