House fire contained in Parkersburg

On Monday, June 22 at around 11:30 AM, Parkersburg Fire and Rescue responded to a report of fire on the corner of 3^rd Street and Wemple Street.

Occupant Jon Jurries, of 411 Wemple Street in Parkersburg, recounted the experience, noting that it started when he heard something odd as he was beginning his day.

“I was in the living room watching TV, and everyone else was asleep,” said Jurries, “I heard a ‘pop’ noise, and then the power went out… I ran downstairs and shut off the breakers to the fuse box, but that didn’t stop it. It was the main power coming into the house.”

Jurries said he looked in the crawlspace under the stairs where they store their sub-pumps, and he could see sparks. Jurries called 911 and requested that the rest of his family leave the home and get somewhere safe. Upon police arrival, Jurries said that they could see the section of wall producing small flames that appeared and reappeared.

Unfortunately, only MidAmerican Energy were capable of shutting off the power to the home, and Jurries explained it took them over an hour to arrive as they are based out of Waterloo. The Parkersburg Fire Department had to cut sections of wall and stairs to reach the fire, and to ensure there were no additional ignition points or embers remaining inside the walls.

There was substantial damage to the area of the initial sparks, but fortunately for Jurries and his family, no one required immediate hospitalization, though, he explained that he and his son—a sufferer of asthma—inhaled smoke that created breathing issues.

“There’s smoke damage, and there’s water damage from the firehoses. We’re going to have the stairs redone, the electrical redone…SERVPRO’s going to have to come out.” Jurries explained,

“and there’s soot everywhere, the whole inside of the house is soot.”

Parkersburg Fire and Rescue services worked all afternoon in the rain to ensure the fires had been completely extinguished, and long after the fact smoke was still airing out of the Jurries home. The Jurries will be staying in a hotel while they wait for an insurance assessor to audit the full magnitude of the damage.