Smoking wall heater alerts local fire department

Olivia Medovich
Staff writer

The Murray Fire Department was called Saturday evening to the scene of a possible structure fire at a home on the corner of Broach Avenue and Main Street.

The home is located about a block from the University.

The fire crew arrived on scene around 5 p.m. with three fire trucks and a rescue squad vehicle.

The crew blocked Broach Avenue off from traffic while they investigated the possible fire.

Firefighters remained on scene for a little over an hour.

Jimmy Cole, assistant fire chief, said when they arrived, there was light to moderate smoke coming from the home.

Cole said a wall heater, which had not been working for some time, caused the smoke.

“It looks like an old wall heater was covered up since 2009 with no issues but today for some reason it decided to turn on,” he said.

Cole said the homeowner was not injured and no damage was done to the home.

Crews placed a ladder against the front of the home so they could check the attic for possible damage, but no damage was found.

Cythina Lewis, who lives across the street from the home, said she and her husband heard a chainsaw and decided to walk outside and see what was going on.

The couple watched from their front porch as firefighters worked to investigate the situation.