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Hubbard High grad dies in fire

Special to the Tribune Chronicle / WKBN 27 Firefighters from Hubbard and Brookfield check for hot spots after a fire Friday morning at 1938 Stateline Road in Hubbard Township that killed Joshua Parkany, 24. According to his Facebook page, Parkany graduated from Hubbard High School in 2011.

HUBBARD TOWNSHIP — A man described by his oldest brother as the “sunshine on a rainy day” died in a fire Friday morning at his 1938 Stateline Road apartment.

Joshua Parkany, 24, was found dead inside his apartment shortly after firefighters arrived just after 7 a.m. The apartment was above a garage on the property, which is owned by Jerry Parkany Sr. and Susan Parkany, according to the Trumbull County Auditor’s Office website.

The Ohio State Fire Marshal is still investigating, but a spokesman with the agency said it does not appear to be arson. The fire started in the garage and then spread to the apartment, investigators said.

“The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but there was nothing suspicious found,” said spokesman Kelly Stincer.“This is an ongoing investigation, but investigators are not ruling out an electrical cause to the fire.”

Stincer said the fire marshal’s office is expecting a coroner’s report to be given to them by Monday afternoon.

Jerry Parkany Jr., 41, of Corpus Christi, Texas, said Joshua was the third of four brothers and also had a younger sister on his dad’s side. He said although there was almost 20 years between them, he and Joshua were close.

Jerry said he moved back to Texas just before Christmas and lived in the area before that. He said he and Joshua — a 2011 Hubbard High School graduate — were working on a truck in the garage just before he moved back to Texas.

“He would come and help me even after we both worked all day. That is the kind of person he was. He was willing to help anyone, family, friends, even strangers, no matter what the circumstance was,” Jerry said. “He would give you the shirt off his back. He would drop whatever he was doing if you needed him.”

He said Joshua would liven up any party with his “bubbly personality.”

“He would get a game going, tell a joke, whatever, to make people smile,” Jerry said.

Besides working on vehicles, he said Joshua also liked soccer.

“He was a home-schooled mechanic and he would call me if he had questions,” Jerry said, noting his brother worked as a landscaper during the summer.

He said Joshua would not want his family and friends to mourn his loss, but instead would want them to raise a glass and celebrate his life.

“He would want us to go out and enjoy life and not worry about what happened. He always said ‘life is short’,” Jerry said.

The Eagle Joint Fire District in Hubbard was assisted by firefighters from Brookfield, Cortland, Shenango Township, Coitsville and West Middlesex. The fire started at Corlls Tractor Parts, according to the Trumbull County 911 dispatch call summary.

Trumbull County 911 received three calls asking for assistance.

Donna Uber, who made one of the calls, told dispatchers she woke up to see the fire.

“There was somebody screaming,” Uber told the dispatcher.

Uber, in a later interview with the Tribune Chronicle, said the garage was located on a family-owned farm.

In another 911 emergency call, an unidentified man told dispatchers there was a fire.

“My boy is trapped in the house,” he said.

“Where is he?” the male caller is heard asking someone who was not on the line, while he was handing the phone off to an unidentified woman.

The woman, in tears, said her son was in there.

“He has an apartment (over the garage),” she said. “He is in there.”

When fire crews arrived at the property, the garage was fully engulfed in flames. The heat from the fire was so hot that the aluminum siding on the house next to it was melting.

There are no fire hydrants in the area, so several fire crews had to shuttle in water to put out the flames. The building is a total loss, according to firefighters.

rsmith@tribtoday.com

mkosinski@tribtroday.com

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