WWW arkcity.net

By FOSS FARRAR
Traveler Staff Writer
reporter@arkcity.net

An overheated wood burning stove was blamed for a fire Monday afternoon that damaged a house at 1225 S. First St. in Arkansas City. Two occupants in the house including a 2-month old baby were able to get out without injury.

The house owner, Shannon Elwell, said at the scene she was grateful that firefighters arrived quickly to put out the fire. It apparently had started near a wood burning stove in a front room next to the front wall of the house.

"There's no damage inside," she said. "They caught it in time, thank goodness."

She said her boyfriend and younger son were in the house when the fire broke out.

Curtis Lolar said he was in the house with the 2-month-old baby when he saw smoke seeping through the front door. He went to the front door, opened it, and saw that the front of the house was on fire.

Fire officials said a wood burning stove next to the front wall apparently overheated.

Elwell said she learned of the fire while at Arkansas City Middle School for an appointment with her older son, then she quickly returned home.

The fire call came in at 1:20 p.m. and firefighters arrived within minutes, said Lt. John Scott of the Arkansas City Fire Department. Fire units from Winfield as well as Ark City were dispatched to the scene.

"Somebody saw the fire around the flue, and reported it," said Ark City Fire Chief Randy Leach. "There were flames across the entire front of the house."

Leach said damage was mainly confined to the outside of the house, though there was smoke damage inside.

"The vinyl siding along the bottom of the front and near the door really took off and produced heavy black smoke," Leach said. "We got a good stop on it."

An awning made of plastic and aluminum that extended across the front porch was destroyed by the fire, he said.