At 4:17 a.m. this morning, Dubois Volunteer Firefighters were called to the report of an electrical fire at the Dorothy Hinkle residence, 6944 N Cuzco Road North. Upon arrival, firefighters found that the fire had been put out, but there was smoke in the residence.
Ms Hinkle stated that family members were awaken by smoke alarms going off and found a power strip with some clothing that was stacked around it burning in the basement. A couple buckets of water were dumped on the fire which did put it out.
It appears that the cause of the fire came from a faulty power strip as a part of the cord between the plug and the strip itself had totally melted, exposing bare wires.
There are six other occupants of the home other than Ms. Hinkle and all exited the home safely. There was no one injured in the incident and there was no damage other than the power strip and a few articles of clothing.
Firefighters exhausted smoke from the residence and left a couple extra, new smoke detectors with the family. There were three trucks with 18 firefighters who responded to the scene and were there for about a half hour. Memorial Hospital Ambulance Service also stood by at the scene as well.
