T-L Photo/J.D. LONG The charred remains of a home stand in Bellaire after a fire ended in a total loss early Monday. No injuries were reported after the fire raged for hours.

BELLAIRE — A fire raged for hours near the corner of 34th and Monroe streets Monday morning, but no one was injured as a result.

In fact the property owner who lives next door, Mary Johnson, said the house had been vacant for nearly five months.

Monday afternoon Bellaire Fire Chief Tim Bell was still on scene because the fire kept rekindling after it took around seven hours to extinguish. Crews had to return to put out the smoldering embers that attempted to light back up.

“We just have to wait it out,” Bell said. “Everything else went smoothly, and no other surrounding structures were damaged.”

There was no speculation about the cause while the fire was still under investigation, but Bell said the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office and the Bellaire Arson Investigation unit were in contact with him and would be on the scene within a day or two. Bell said the home did have electrical service but declined to say more.

Johnson said she happened to look out her window around midnight and saw the flames then called for help. She also wouldn’t speculate about to the cause. Johnson said she was told there were numerous calls reporting the fire, but she was concerned about the amount of time it took for firefighters to respond to the scene.

Bell said under the snowy conditions they did pretty well.

“When you’re sitting there waiting on a fire, two minutes can feel like 20,” he said. “We made it here in pretty decent time.”

Four young fire cadets were also on scene around 2 p.m. Firefighter Hunter Boyd said they haven’t seen many fires recently, noting this was the first in three to four months.

Bell said the department brings the cadets out and let them help clean up and learn the process in certain situations.