20-acre Champion brush fire Monday also ignited gas meter
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CHAMPION TOWNSHIP – Fire Chief Tom Dempsey said Tuesday that after being called to 5572 Parkman Road (U.S. Route 422) at 11:37 a.m. Monday, firefighters extinguished a brush fire of about 20 acres.
Several other fire departments came to assist. Initially it was challenging to say whether the lead fire department would be Champion or Warren Township because the front part of the property is in Warren Township, but the rear part is in Champion.
Dempsey's department took the lead with help from Warren Township and several other departments.
The property owner said he had been burning brush a couple of days before the fire began. He came home Monday morning and saw slight smoldering, but "those winds pick up," Dempsey said.
Dempsey said he believes hot ashes hit dry grass and started the brush fire. The location is between Templeton and Anderson Anthony roads.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources website states that the state has a burn ban from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the months of March, April, May, October and November for unincorporated areas, though there are some exclusions to that law.
Dempsey the Champion Fire Department did not carry out any enforcement, but the fire department has to report fires to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, which has enforcement powers.
Dempsey said that in addition to the brush fire, a gas meter behind the house containing gas from gas wells in the back of the property melted, leaked gas and caught fire.
Fire crews tried shutting the valve off to the meter, but that did not work, so firefighters extinguished it.
The gas company that operates the wells was there, Dempsey said. Workers "pulled a check valve" and were able to stop the leak.
Warren Township fire Chief Joseph Natale said firefighters were at the scene from about 11:30 a.m. until about 2:30 p.m., including Warren, Champion, Braceville, Lordstown, Newton Falls, Mesopotamia, and Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency.
The latter organization brought a drone to the scene to help firefighters better gauge the extent of the fire. There were some areas in the back that were hard to see, Natale said.
Brush fires require some specialized vehicles, such as Jeeps, four wheelers and UTVs such as a side-by-side, so a number of those were brought in, Natali said. In addition to water, putting out a brush fire requires use of rakes, shovels. "You just stamp it out, basically," Natale said.